My Angel
by Cizzymac
Summary: Two years following his attempted suicide gone awry, Keitaro has a chance meeting with someone who should not be there. Someone who saved his life, and will help him rebuild his shattered heart. Original story by Lunar Knite.
1. Prologue

A/N: Here we go again, folks. Cizzymac coming at you with something brand-spanking new! This is an original work by Lunar Knite that I offered to write for him since he's in a state of perpetual hiatus. This is his story, not mine. Enjoy!

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_**My Angel - Prologue**_

_**Love, it's all I wanted ever since that promise.**_

_**The promise that would forever bind my heart.**_

_**After feeling this love for her for so long, **_

_**I truly thought I could never love again.**_

_**Love was just a painful memory for me.**_

It happened two years ago…

_**~3:00 AM, February 12, 1999**_

Keitaro Urashima sat glumly at his desk with his face buried in his hands, salty droplets falling from his face onto the hard wooden surface. He watched as the drops came together, forming a small puddle. There was one that did not merge with the others, like a lonely wanderer. Ruffling his hands through his disheveled hair, he gazed out of the window and into the starry sky. He rubbed away the last of his tears from his puffy, bloodshot eyes and sobbed. "I can't take this anymore."

Unbeknownst to Keitaro, his soft revelation was overheard by a tenant in an adjacent room, who was also unable to find the respite of sleep. "What could he be doing up this late? Studying?" She laughed at the sound of her own impossible words. It couldn't hurt to take a peek, she decided, and she could use some company to ward off her bout of insomnia.

Keitaro's attention turned to a drawer in his desk, his mind caught in a steel trap of heartache and desperation. Day after day, all he received were endless beatings and countless accusations. Even worse, the very people he cared about most in his lonely world carried out those evil deeds against him. Even the one he loved more than himself.

He pulled open the desk drawer that held his attention, his tired eyes locked upon something within. That was why he had to do this, he convinced himself. Though he could not imagine the pain it might cause them, he was certain they would be happier after he was gone. He reached for the object that inside the drawer and drew a small, loaded revolver.

The other resident saw the spectacle in its entirety unfold before her eyes. The sight of the gun in his hands froze her limbs and stole her breath. He wouldn't, she thought. She could change. All of them could change. Causing him to go this far was too much. She instantly regretted every terrible thing she had ever done to him. She would do anything to take it all back; anything to take away his pain.

When Keitaro cocked the firing hammer on the pistol and raised the barrel of the weapon to his temple, Naru gasped in horror and leaped through the hole in her floor, landing with cat-like grace on the floor below. "No, Keitaro, don't!" she begged of him.

Keitaro whirled around, facing the sudden intruder without lowering the gun from his was she doing in here, he wondered. He looked up at his ceiling and noticed the light shining from her room through the portal. She must have seen everything. But there was no backing down now. If he failed here, there wouldn't be another chance. He closed his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Narusegawa," he cried pitifully and squeezed the trigger.

Strangely, he felt no pain from the bullet. At least he was able to die painlessly. But more perplexing than that was the warmth he felt on his hand. If the bullet had truly killed him painlessly, he should not feel anything, much less something so wonderfully peaceful. Upon hearing the sound of his own breath as the ringing in his ears dulled, it suddenly dawned on him: the bullet had missed him.

Keitaro's eyes snapped open. He saw Naru's smiling face in front of him, but there was something terribly wrong. Her face was quivering with pain, and blood seeped from the left corner of her mouth and down her chin. He lowered his gaze to her chest, and his heart sank in tandem with his eyes. Her nightgown was drenched in her blood where the stray bullet had pierced through her torso. She held within her hands the weapon that pierced her that remained in Keitaro's grip. "No…" he murmured, looking back into Naru's eyes, whose life was quickly draining away.

Sucking in a blood-filled breath, Naru strained to speak, "Keitaro…you…baka…"

Keitaro's limbs lost their strength, and he watched in horror as Naru's grasp of his right hand loosed, her eyes dulling completely as her lifeless body slumped to the floor with a hefty thud.

As he fell to his knees before Naru's body, blindingly hot tears streamed from his eyes. Before his numbed brain could process what exactly had just happened, his door opened with a sickening crash, Motoko standing where the door once was, her sword brandished in an offensive posture. "Urashima! Explain what all of this noise is abo-." Her voice and whatever malice she had was stolen away when her eyes fell upon the fallen Naru. "Naru-sempai?"

"Naru!" Kitsune exclaimed, shoving the swordswoman out of her path as she rushed to her friend's side. She lifted Naru's body in her arms and shook her body. "Are you all right? Speak to me! Naru!" Her body stayed limp in Kitsune's arms. "What are you doing standing there, Motoko? Call the paramedics, for God's sake!"

Motoko, entranced by the sight before her, was shaken back to reality with Kitsune's words. "Yes, right away," she said as she dashed out of Keitaro's room towards the nearest telephone.

Kitsune turned her attention to Keitaro, still holding Naru's corpse in her embrace. He had a horrified expression on his face, but she started when she noticed the pistol still in Keitaro's hand. "Keitaro! What did you do to Naru?"

"I didn't…I mean I didn't mean to…" Keitaro said, looking down at the offending weapon still resting firmly in his grip. As if the pistol was as hot as a stovetop, he released the gun with a yelp, yanking his hand away from it as if it were something alive trying to chomp off his hand. The gun clattered as it bounced on the floor, eventually coming to a stop next to Kitsune, who was staring at Keitaro as if he had a second mouth protruding from his forehead.

"No," Keitaro said, repeating the word again and again as he shook his head slowly and took several shaky steps backward. His breath became shallow and rapid, the room spinning around his vision like a top before he swooned, his body crumpling to the floor in a heap.

* * *

When Keitaro awoke, there were two paramedics kneeling on either side of him, tending to him. "Whoa, there," one of them said. "Don't move around too quickly. You had a pretty nasty spill according to your friend."

With a gasp, Keitaro looked to the side. "Naru?" he called out, but there naught there but a large pool of blood.

"Just take it easy, buddy," the other paramedic ordered Keitaro, pushing him back down flat.

"Where is she?" Keitaro asked.

"Don't worry about that right now. You need to stay calm," the first paramedic explained.

"Where the hell is she, goddamnit?" Keitaro asked again with hysterical rage, kicking and screaming in an attempt to loosen from the grip of the two men.

"Get the sedative, will ya?" the first paramedic ordered the second as he held down the frightened and enraged young man. The second man nodded and retrieved a syringe and a small vial of clear fluid. With a practiced hand, the man quickly filled the syringe and injected its contents into Keitaro's arm.

After a few seemingly endless moments of struggle, Keitaro could no longer fight the effect of the medicine, and he fell unconscious. "Finally. Let's finish checking his vitals while he's out."

Neither of the two men noticed the single tear streaming down the side of Keitaro's face.

* * *

The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon when the police finally left the premises after a lengthy questioning session of all of the residents and a now-calm Keitaro. There was enough evidence to suggest the shooting was purely accidental based on the evidence found at the scene and the testimony of the witnesses, so there was no need to take Keitaro into custody at the time. All there was do to at the moment was wait for the call from the hospital to see Naru one last time and to properly say goodbye.

The whole of the residence was gathered in the main living room just inside the entryway. A pall of silence lingered over the group for an inordinate amount of time, the veil finally lifted by the least likely of sources.

"Sempai…" Shinobu hesitated, "did…did you…kill Naru-sempai?" Her voice was dry and cracked, sure signs she has been crying for a while. "The police said you had something to do with it."

Keitaro remained as a statue with his face buried in his hands.

"Urashima! You will tell us what transpired or suffer the consequences!" Motoko threatened the poor form of the landlord, her voice hoarse and her eyes weary. Though her voice was firm, she lacked the strength to put those words into action.

Keitaro lifted his head and stared at his hands as if the answer was written on his palms. "I'm sorry," he said stoically. "It wasn't supposed to happen like this. She should be sitting here, not me."

"What's that supposed to mean, dork?" Sarah rudely asked, with a slight tint of concern for the landlord colored in her voice.

If it was from having explained what happened several times to the police already, or from his physical and mental exhaustion, he could not be sure, but Keitaro was able to offer his version of the event without losing his composure. "That gun…that bullet…wasn't meant for her. It was meant for me."

A moment of stunned silence later, Su asked, "Why would you even think of doing that to yourself? Do you not like playing with me?"

"That's not it, Su-chan," Keitaro said, shaking his head one time.

"Was it something I did?" Shinobu asked, beginning to sob once again from Keitaro's revelation.

"No, not at all," Keitaro replied evenly. "It was me…from the very beginning. I was getting in the way of everyone's happiness, and I figured that everyone would be happier if I just removed myself from the equation…but it happened again. Why did she have to hear me? Why did she pull the gun away from my head? Why couldn't she have just let me die?"

Kitsune, who had been silent until then, rose to her feet and stormed over to Keitaro and bellowed, "Because she loved you, idiot!" Rearing back, she slapped the ronin hard across his cheek, the sound echoing off the walls.

Kitsune's words made Keitaro impervious to the pain caused by her blow. Unflinching, he looked at the fox with awestricken eyes and muttered, "Wha?"

"That's right, she loved you, even though she would never admit it! Hell, she didn't even tell me and I'm her best friend! But it was obvious to anyone that didn't have their head up their ass! The arguing and the hitting were just cover-ups!" Kitsune yelled at the top of her lungs, emptying the bitterness of her pain onto Keitaro.

"But…why?" Keitaro asked. He could not understand. What would possess someone as beautiful and as brilliant as she to fall for someone as lowly as he?

"Because she's…she was Naru," Kitsune said, correcting herself. Unable to keep her tears at bay, Kitsune collapsed to her knees and buried herself into Keitaro's lap, grasping onto his shirt with all of her might as she wailed.

"I'm sorry," Keitaro apologized. That was all he could offer to her. Nothing else he could say or do would bring her any comfort. Mere words could not replace what had been lost. "I'm so sorry, everyone."

* * *

_Two years. Two long years of grief and suffering. Two years of heartbreak and despair. Two years without her. I miss her so much, even to this day. Not a day passes that I do not think about what I did. I would give anything to take it back. I would grab that pistol and throw it into the stream behind the apartment. I would give anything to have her back in my life._

_Sometimes I dream about seeing her at school, or at the market or some other random place. But those dreams only bring me more pain. There is no solace in seeing something that is not really there._

_I resigned as the manager of the Hinata House, handing over my duties to Haruka for now. I'm still there, mind you, though the others hardly ever see hide or hair of me outside of my room. I simply cannot bear to see their faces._

_Today's date is… It's her birthday! I had nearly forgotten! Now if you'll excuse me, I have somewhere to go…

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_

A/N: And there's your prologue. Thanks for reading. Go review now and tell me what you all think. If you're gonna flame, be aware that it gets a LOT better as the story progresses, I promise you that. See you when the first chapter is posted.


	2. Unexpected Visitor

Before we get down to business, just a few things to clear up: For those reviewers who are complaining about Japanese laws and whatnot, I sure hope you guys wrote some raging hatemail to Akamatsu-sensei for all the nonsense he pulled in Volume 12. For those who have not read the manga, let's just say everyone in Hinata Sou would have gone away for a looong time after what happened. Otherwise, let's all just suspend our disbelief for a while (inb4 fanfiction is Serious Business™) and enjoy the ride.

After all, this isn't a Phoenix Wright crossover.

On a more somber note, let's get on with the actual story, shall we? Enjoy!

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My Angel: Unexpected Visitor

_**5:00 AM, March 25, 2001**_

It was a new day. Or at the very least, it was another day. For most it was the latter. Most rise with the sun, go about his or her business, and retire when the sun has set. If it were any other day on the calendar two years ago, one might find Keitaro Urashima doing these very same mundane activities. However, this day held something special for him. As such, he had risen long before daybreak.

Given the last two years of his self-admitted meaningless existence, being awake, fully dressed, and out and about the premises before the sun was well into the sky was rather unusual for him. If any of the other residents at Hinata Sou had happened upon him at that very moment, odds were she would mistake him for a burglar and rouse the rest of the household with her screaming for Motoko or the police.

It was not as if Keitaro sawed logs well into the morning. In fact, the truth was quite contrary to that. His sleep was marred with fits and starts, horrible memories and dreams plaguing what little amount of slumber he could manage. Consequently, he was always awake before the sun peeked over the horizon, watching as it did, wishing he could turn the page on his own life much like Mother Nature did on a daily basis. The activity had a calming effect on him, and he was able to find several hours of restful sleep following the sunrise.

That was not to be on this day. He would soldier on without sleep, for there was something of utmost importance for him to do that superseded his need for rest. Rubbing his bloodshot eyes and stifling more yawns than the average five-year-old could count, Keitaro trudged downstairs and entered the kitchen. He ate a hastily prepared breakfast consisting of leftovers from the previous evenings' meal that he did not partake in.

It became custom shortly after the event that Keitaro would not join the others at mealtime, leaving two empty chairs instead of one. At first, it was because he could not stand to seat himself at the same table as them, fearful of their judgmental eyes and harsh words. By the time anyone might have realized the truth of the matter, it was a habit, and Keitaro had long since become a shut-in in his own property, his existence ethereal to the other residents. However, Shinobu, out of her own habits, generously left a portion of each meal specifically for the manager.

She ought to be surprised to see that this particular meal was gone, he thought. His appetite was day-to-day, and the leftover meals were usually tossed into the trash by the following evening, replaced with another of her meticulously prepared dishes. Speaking of which, he wanted to be sure to leave before the youngest of his tenants rose to avoid any misunderstandings regarding his early departure.

After cleaning after himself, Keitaro made his way to the exit, sitting down near the door to lace his shoes. As he stood and reached for the door, the quietest of voices gave him a tremendous shock. "Sempai? Where are you going?"

Keitaro lurched backwards at the sound of the voice coming from the stairs behind him as if the door handle housed a venomous spider. Of course, he recognized the voice right away, and he turned reluctantly to greet the young woman standing on the landing. "Shinobu-chan, good morning," he stammered. "You scared the dickens out of me."

"I'm sorry if I frightened you. Actually, you gave me a bit of a fright, too. I didn't expect to see you there at this time of day," Shinobu replied.

Keitaro looked at the teen as if it were the first time he had seen her in months. In fact, it might have been that long since he actually looked at her face for more than a fleeting moment. Her hair had lengthened tremendously, her dark locks reaching the middle of her back. She had it tied up into a single ponytail, revealing the blossoming look of a woman on her face. Keitaro wondered idly when the fifteen year-old had become so beautiful.

"Is there something wrong?" Shinobu asked, tilting her head to the side quizzically.

Realizing he had been caught staring, Keitaro shook his head quickly. "No, not at all. I'm just going out for a little while. I'll be back later."

"Okay, I'll see you later then. Be safe."

"I will."

Shinobu watched as her beloved Sempai left the building with a bittersweet feeling in her heart. It had literally been months since she had had anything resembling a conversation with him, so each moment she shared with him was a boon. But he still appeared to be carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, and she cursed her inability to do even the slightest thing to help him.

Everyone heals from such a loss in his or her own time, her grief counselor explained to her those many months ago. It had been two years since the incident, and yet Keitaro remained as cold and as distant as the first few weeks after the accident.

She missed his smile, and his gentle and thoughtful words. She even missed his perverted eccentricities. She was willing to sacrifice anything to meet the old Keitaro once more, but at the same time, she knew the cross he bore was far too heavy a weight for her or anyone else to carry for him.

Before he could move on, Keitaro ultimately needed to forgive himself.

Such thoughts were far from the former manager's mind as he carved his way through the fog-thickened air enveloping the town of Hinata Onsen. His mind weaved a bittersweet tapestry of memories as sights, sounds, and smells coursed through his brain. That bench…where she met him as he pondered his next move after being forced out of Hinata Sou. The Print Club booth where she barged in with him while he took one last photo before leaving…replaced by a vending machine. He slipped a bill into the machine and purchased a can of hot coffee to chase off the last wake of winter's chilly air.

Even worse than reminiscing about past memories was thinking about what might have been. Likely a sophomore in her chosen field at Toudai. More beautiful then he could possibly imagine. Dating a handsome man who would surely make her happy. Celebrating with her friends tonight that she was no longer a teenager.

That's right…she would have turned twenty today. That was the reason for Keitaro's trip after all. Naru always liked to talk about what she would do once she was an adult, even if she could not make up her mind on exactly what it was she wanted to accomplish. Just the thought of being considered mature put a smile on her face whenever she talked about it. It was one of the many things that he found so mesmerizing about her.

Keitaro wiped quickly at his burning eyes as if a gnat were buzzing near his face. He could not afford to let his wandering mind deter him from this yet again. This time, for sure, he would accomplish what he set out to do. This was the furthest he had yet to come, and he was not about to let his despair get the best of him.

After a short train ride, Keitaro exited at the station nearest his final destination, but there was yet an errand to perform before he completed his journey. Not much had changed since he last visited this area. That worked out nicely for him, as he did not need to meander around trying to find what he needed. He stopped in a store within a stone's throw of where he was going and purchased his requisite items:

Flowers and incense.

With his heart feeling somewhat like a cement mixer, Keitaro walked slowly into the cemetery with his purchases in tow, gazing about to the right and left. He had not stepped foot in that place in two years, and even now it was the last place he wanted to be. Fighting the temptation to turn tail and flee, he steeled his nerves, slowly approaching the Narusegawa family grave.

Turning one final corner, Keitaro froze in his tracks when he noticed two people kneeling in front of the very grave he was there to visit. He did not immediately recognize the pair, and he found himself staring at them for a few moments, trying to place their faces as they knelt before the Narusegawa family marker. Unsure of what to do otherwise, he stood still, waiting for them to finish their prayers.

The young female finished first, opening her eyes and rising to her feet. Keitaro fidgeted, his movements catching the attention of the girl. To Keitaro's despair, she seemed to recognize him right away. "Keitaro Urashima, isn't it?" she asked.

The older man flinched at the sound of Keitaro's name, and he snapped his head in Keitaro's direction. Instantly the calm vanished from his face, replaced instead with a violent rage. "What the hell are you doing here?" the man barked after leaping to his feet.

Keitaro could offer no reply as the man stomped towards him with a wild-eyed look. "You aren't welcome here! Get the hell out of here!"

The girl grabbed a handful of the man's shirt and pulled at him. "Please father! Not in front of sis!"

A lightbulb clicked on in Keitaro's head. Father. Sister. Naru's family. No wonder. Of course he would not be the only one to think of visiting on such a special day. He immediately regretted his decision to come. "I'm terribly sorry for the intrusion. I'll come back some other time." Keitaro apologized, turning to leave, and likely never return again.

"Keitaro-san, wait!" the girl cried, still holding tight to her father's shirt to hold him back.

"What are you doing, Mei-chan? That spineless coward has no right to set foot in this place today of all days!" Mei's father roared.

Mei pointed at Keitaro. "Look, father. Look what he is carrying with him. He came to pay his respects."

After taking a moment to see what was in Keitaro's hand, the man seemed to relax somewhat, but he still bore a look of disdain on his face. "Very well, then. You've got twenty minutes to do what you came to do. Don't be here when I get back," the man warned Keitaro before turning and walking in the opposite direction.

Keitaro, with his heart trying to exit his body in ten different directions, let out a tremendous sigh. "Thanks for saving me," he said to Mei.

Mei sat on a nearby bench, trying to calm her own nerves. "Don't put too much thought into what he said. He wouldn't do anything to hurt you."

Keitaro stepped carefully towards the girl, and the gravestone lying a handful of paces away from her. "It didn't seem that way." He continued to look apprehensively at her as he took a seat next to her on the bench.

"You don't remember me, do you?" the girl asked with a half smile.

Keitaro scratched his head nervously. "I'm sorry, not really."

"It's okay, I understand. You were having a really hard time back then. I'm Mei Narusegawa. I'm Naru-chan's younger sister."

Keitaro snapped his fingers, now easily seeing the resemblance. "Of course. Sorry I didn't recognize you before."

"Don't sweat it, Keitaro-san. We only met that one time and it was…well, a difficult time. To be honest, the only reason I recognized you at all is because of your glasses," Mei said with a soft laugh.

"Let me guess. You think I could probably see the backside of the moon with these, right?"

Mei laughed in earnest. "Yeah, something like that."

The pair sat silently staring at their surroundings for a while, until Keitaro glanced over in the direction Mei's father walked off towards. "So that was your father?"

Mei nodded. "He's…still having a hard time accepting what happened."

Keitaro sympathized with the man, despite the fact it seemed he wanted nothing more than to tear his head off.

"He's had to deal with a lot of terrible things. First mother…and then Naru-chan…I'm the only family he's got left."

Keitaro turned to look at Mei, who was wiping away tears forming in the corners of her eyes. "I'm really sorry."

"It's okay. Sorry, I didn't mean to get so worked up about it." Mei replied as she composed herself. "More importantly, how have you been?"

Keitaro glanced down at his feet. "I'm surviving, I guess." There was not much else for him to say. It may not have been the whole truth, but it was the truth, nonetheless.

Mei paused, letting Keitaro's words linger for a moment. She inferred by looking at him that he was in much worse shape than he was letting on. He wore the same expression she often saw on her father's face. "I see. I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Keitaro asked.

Mei stood up. "Nothing, it's not important. I'll let you do what you came here for. Even though I said he wouldn't do anything to you, you should still finish up before father gets back."

"You're right. I'm sorry that I interrupted your memorial. I should have been more thoughtful about it."

"It's quite alright. It's good that you finally decided to come."

"Thank you, Mei-chan."

"You're welcome. Do take care of yourself, Keitaro-san."

"You do the same. And tell your father that I'm sorry about everything."

"He already knows."

After Mei walked away, following her father, Keitaro sat and stared at the Narusegawa family grave for several minutes without moving. He had been planning this for months on end, but now that he was there, he had no idea where to begin. What would he say? Would he lie and tell her that everything was okay? He always was terrible at lying, especially to her. In the end, he decided to simply say what was in his heart.

He stood and approached the marker. With a heavy sigh, he placed the flowers onto the monument, lit the incense and placed it next to the flowers, and knelt before the grave. He closed his eyes and clasped his hands together reverently.

"You know, I was beginning to wonder when you were going to show up."

That voice…impossible. He was obviously hearing things. There was no way that…

"Don't try to ignore me, baka! Open your eyes and look!"

Keitaro opened his eyes slowly, as if his mind were caught in a snare. Time stood still as he looked up and saw something completely impossible.

"Long time no see, Keitaro."

He blinked and rubbed at his eyes, but the woman was still standing there, leaning against the Narusegawa family gravestone nonchalantly and wearing a snow-white summer dress despite the bitter cold of the early spring morning. The radiance of her smile was more brilliant than any he could recall.

"Narusegawa?"

* * *

A/N: Now I know what you're thinking: "What? That's it? What gives?" Allow me to explain. This story will be released in a smaller chapters to allow me to release new content on hopefully a weekly basis. I will be working almost solely on this work for now, so it should not be too much of a problem, and this chapter will likely be the shortest. I hope you enjoyed, and please leave a review and tell me what you think. Again, thanks to Mike aka Lunar Knite for beta reading for me.


	3. Narusegawa

My Angel: Narusegawa

_**8:32 am March 25, 2001**_

"Yeah, it's me, Keitaro," the woman who should not be there replied.

Keitaro stared blankly at Naru, who continued to smile beatifically at him. "What's going on here? Am I losing my mind?"

Naru stood up straight and walked around the grave to stand in front of Keitaro, who was still kneeling down. "Normally I would say that you lost it a long time ago, but…no, you aren't going crazy."

Keitaro reached out towards Naru with his hand.

Naru backed away from Keitaro's approaching hand. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Sorry," Keitaro apologized, yanking his hand away in reflex.

Naru smirked. "You haven't changed much, I suppose. Then again, I guess I haven't either. Anyway, don't bother. You can't touch a ghost."

"A ghost?" Keitaro asked, wearing a confused grin. "You can't be serious."

Naru sighed. "Very well then." She held out her hand in front of Keitaro.

Keitaro stared at the hand before him hesitantly. He figured he might have fallen asleep in front of the grave, and all of this was a dream. He wanted desperately to confirm that Naru was really there, but he was deathly frightened that the moment he found out the truth he would wake and never see her again. "Narusegawa…"

Naru huffed, snapping her fingers. "Oh, come on with it, already!"

Forced to pick his poison, Keitaro decided to play his hand against fate. He reached out and took her hand. Or at least, that was what he expected. He lurched forward as his hand passed through hers without a single sensation other than passing through air.

"See?" Naru asked with a snarky grin, waggling her fingers.

"But…how?" Keitaro said, climbing to his feet as he realized he was still on his knees before Naru's supposed spirit.

Naru shrugged. "I can't be sure."

"Did you just now show up?"

Naru shook her head.

"Why didn't your family say anything about this?" Keitaro asked, gazing in the direction Mei and her father disappeared towards.

"Because they can't see me. Only you can."

Keitaro blinked. He knew Naru and, despite the length of time spent bereft of her company, he could tell if she was lying or not. There was not an ounce of deception in her voice. "How do you know this?" he asked yet another question.

Naru sighed loudly, becoming slightly annoyed at the game of twenty questions. "Because I've tried. Look, I know you probably have about a million other questions to ask, so why don't I just stop you there and tell you what I do know."

Keitaro opened his mouth to reply, but ended up nodding his head instead. Starting from the beginning, Naru explained that she had no recollection of what happened after the accident other than she awoke the night of her burial as a spirit and she was unable to travel farther than a few hundred feet away from her grave.

Keitaro was fascinated by her story. If he was in fact insane, his imagination was certainly able to craft a perfectly plausible explanation to justify what he was experiencing at the moment. "Why not?" Keitaro asked, pressing for further information.

"I don't know. Something just compels me to stay put whenever I try to leave. It's a pretty overwhelming feeling, and there's nothing I can do about it. I can't leave here."

"And you've been here all alone with no one to talk to for two years?" Keitaro asked. His head was swimming at this point, and he needed to sit on the nearby bench to keep from swooning.

Naru smiled weakly, joining Keitaro on the bench. "Not really. My dad and sister still come to visit quite a bit. Although I can't talk to them, they still talk to me and tell me about how they are doing."

"You can hear them when they pray, even though they aren't speaking?"

Naru nodded. "It's like I'm hearing their voices in my head or something like that. It's kind of cool, actually," she added with a weak smile.

Keitaro returned her smile. She seemed to be genuinely enjoying this state of being, which brought up what was likely the most important question still plaguing his mind. "Narusegawa, why are you still here?"

To Keitaro's surprise, Naru chuckled at his question. "It's about time you asked. I'm here because of you."

"Huh?"

"You heard me. I'm here because something is still tying us together. That's the best way I can explain it."

Keitaro lifted his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. "Now I'm really confused."

"Trust me, you aren't the only one. I don't have all the answers here, either. It's not like I died and God sat me down and explained all the rules to me. It's just a strong hunch that I have. All I can say is that I somehow knew that I was supposed to wait for you and that you would be the only one able to interact with me."

"That clears everything up, doesn't it?" Keitaro offered sarcastically.

"I suppose it doesn't," Naru replied with a frown.

Keitaro absentmindedly checked his watch, and was surprised at the time. Mei would be returning with her father soon, and if they noticed him talking to someone that was not there, they might end up having him locked away in a rubber room somewhere. "I need to go soon." To his surprise, Naru beamed at him when he suggested he needed to leave. "What's the smile for?"

Naru raised an eyebrow at Keitaro. "Because I finally get to leave this place. Did you actually think I want to stay here?"

"Didn't just finished saying that you are tied to this place and you can't leave? What are you talking about?"

Naru pursed her lips and glanced at the ground. "That's right…but I've also got this other gut feeling."

"Not this again," Keitaro muttered, shaking his head side to side.

"I'm tied to this place, but I'm also tied to you. But this feeling…I'm not supposed to let you leave by yourself. I'm supposed to go with you, I think." Naru's voice sounded more confident as she explained the situation more to her herself than to Keitaro.

Keitaro pondered over the situation. He still lacked concrete proof that the "person" standing in front of him was really Naru Narusegawa and not a complete figment of his imagination, but the fact that he was able to think critically about this turn of events lent credence to the ghost's existence. However, given that she only appeared to him and could only be interacted with by him was strong evidence to the contrary.

He could have debated with himself the entire morning and still remained at a stalemate. There was only one thing he could do. Given enough time, there would certainly be an opportunity to prove it one way or the other.

"I guess there's only one way to find out, then," Naru said with a shrug of her shoulders. "Shall we?"

Keitaro was about to agree before a sudden thought stopped him. "What about your sister and father?"

Naru suddenly became downcast. "I…I can't take it anymore; this one-way line of communication. I mean, it's nice hearing that everything is okay at home, but…"

"You can't stand not telling them you are alright as well," Keitaro finished Naru's thought.

"Yes, exactly. How did you know?"

Keitaro chuckled and shrugged. "I could tell just by looking at you. Do you want me to tell them for you?"

Naru shook her head instantly. "You can't. It would be a problem if others found out about me."

"What do you mean?" Keitaro tilted his head to the side quizzically.

Naru adopted a puzzled expression. "I don't know. It's just another one of those feelings. Something bad will happen." She looked into Keitaro's eyes with a fearful expression. "You have to promise me never to tell anyone about me."

A twitch of pain crossed Keitaro's chest. She could tell him every last one of her thoughts, but he would never be able to share those feelings with anyone else. He had a unique opportunity to give words of comfort to those Naru left behind. But he could not ignore the fear on her face and in her words.

With two words, his secret was sealed. "I promise."

The "couple" made their way towards the exit quietly as to not subject Keitaro to any strange looks from passersby. However, as they neared the gate, Keitaro noticed Naru was no longer at his side. He stopped and turned around, fearing that she might have indeed existed only in his mind. He was relieved, however, when he saw Naru gazing down at the ground, holding a hand over her chest.

"What's the matter?" Keitaro whispered, looking about for signs of anyone approaching.

Naru continued to look at her feet. "I haven't been able to move past this point for two years."

"Are you getting that weird feeling again?"

Naru shook her head and looked at Keitaro with a smile. "No, not at all."

"Then let's go home."

"Okay." With one step, Naru was freed from the bonds of her invisible prison.

_**9:47 am March 25, 2001**_

More questions sprouted in Keitaro's mind during the train ride back to Hinata Onsen, but he was forced to bite his tongue, as there were significantly more passengers on the return trip. He logged them into his internal database for later, instead passing the time by watching his counterpart as she gazed out of the window of the train in childlike awe and wonder. It was if she were experiencing the sights and sounds of the outside world for the first time.

Not that Keitaro could blame her. He had become somewhat of a hikikomori himself, only leaving the dormitory when he could not help it. It was especially bad for him the first several months after Naru's death. Garbage piled up in the corner of his room, then in all four corners, then everywhere except where he laid his futon. Only when the stench from his room was so powerful it wafted into Kitsune's did he do anything about it.

Extradited from his room while it was professionally cleaned, Keitaro stepped outside for the first time in months. Gazing up, he could not recall seeing a bluer sky than on that day. Perhaps it was then he decided he would visit Naru's grave, though he had thought about doing it off and on many times before then. Maybe at that moment, breathing in that fresh air rolling in from the sea, he thought he might be able to live again. One step at a time.

"What are you doing, Keitaro?" Naru asked, snapping Keitaro out of his daydream.

Keitaro looked about, suddenly realizing the train was stopped, and the last of the passengers were filing out of the exits. The train had already reached the end of the line. "Oh, sorry," Keitaro apologized. A man gave Keitaro a strange look before he exited. Keitaro winced at his folly.

"You can just whisper, you know," Naru noted. "I can hear that just as well."

"Now you tell me?" Keitaro asked as quietly as possible.

Naru laughed nervously. "I thought I did."

Keitaro huffed. What other surprises were in store for him, he wondered.

_**10:56 am March 25, 2001**_

Keitaro paused as he reached for the front door to Hinata Sou.

"What's the matter?" Naru asked him, anxious to see the faces of her friends once again.

"What am I going to say to them?" Keitaro asked quietly.

"Well, obviously, you don't tell them anything about me," Naru began.

"That's not what I mean…it's just…not like me to be out and about at this time of day," Keitaro admitted ashamedly.

Naru gazed up into the sky, looking at the sun that was directly overhead. "Seriously?" she asked, a hint of pity in her voice.

Keitaro nodded, looking down at the cobblestone between his feet in shame. "It's been…hard."

"Hey, that's why I'm here now, right?" Naru replied, trying to pick up Keitaro's spirits. "To get you back on track?"

"I suppose so," Keitaro answered with nary a hint of confidence.

"So first things first. Let's just go inside. I haven't seen all my friends for a long time. I'm pretty anxious to see them."

Keitaro glanced at Naru, who smiled back at him with seemingly endless patience, like a teacher doting on a struggling student. He was reminded of when she tutored him for the entrance exams, sans the yelling and arguing. She was always able to help him solve those problems that seemed impossible for him to grasp. Perhaps then, if he followed her tutelage now, she might be able to breathe life back into his soul once again.

"Okay," Keitaro said.

* * *

Not much to say after this one. Going back to work on Chapter 3 now. Thanks for reading


	4. Returning to Hinata Sou

My Angel: Returning to Hinata Sou

_**11:00 am March 25, 2001**_

Keitaro slid the front door open, a foreboding feeling in his chest, suspecting there would be four faces waiting for him just opposite the portal. Considering the day was a Sunday, he was rather surprised when he discovered the foyer was as empty as when he had left five hours earlier. "That's weird," he mumbled.

"Where is everyone?" Naru asked as she slid through the doorway behind Keitaro.

Keitaro shook his head. "I have no idea. But it's better this way."

"Why do you say that?" Naru inquired.

Keitaro moved towards the stairs, speaking quietly. "You said you wanted to keep this a secret, right? I'm not usually out and about this time of day. If anyone saw me right now, it would just invite a bunch of questions."

Hearing Naru sigh and grumble behind him, Keitaro turned and saw her shaking her head and rubbing her temples. "Has it really gotten so bad that you aren't even talking with anyone anymore?" Keitaro failed to answer. Instead, he sheepishly hung his head. "So it's worse than I thought."

"I'm sorry," Keitaro replied.

"Who are you talking to?" A voice suddenly asked behind him.

Keitaro's heart leapt through his chest and he whirled around to greet the sudden intruder. "Aunt Haruka!"

Haruka tapped Keitaro on the crown of his head with the rolled up newspaper she held in her hand. "Haruka-san, if you please. Whenever are you going to learn?"

Keitaro performed his trademarked nervous chuckle while scratching the back of his head. "Sorry about that. I'll learn eventually."

Haruka folded her arms across her chest and peered at Keitaro quizzically. "So?"

"So what?"

"Who were you talking to?" Haruka asked with a minor inflection in her normally monotone voice, hinting to Keitaro that he had best answer the question.

"You weren't talking to anyone," Naru answered for him.

Keitaro flinched his head in Naru's direction to shoo her off. "I wasn't talking to anyone," he answered simply.

Haruka squinted her eyes at her nephew. "You just said, 'I'm sorry'. You said that to no one?"

"Did I say that?" Keitaro asked, gazing at the ceiling, acting as oblivious as he possibly could.

Naru groaned out loud. He was still the worst liar in the world. But, by some miracle, Haruka seemed to buy the ruse. "I guess not," she flatly stated, pulling a cigarette from her apron pocket. "I just finished draining the hot spring. Would you be a dear and brush down the walls for me? I need to open up the teahouse."

"Sure, I suppose I could," Keitaro quickly answered.

Haruka furrowed her brow ever so slightly, appearing surprised by Keitaro's response. "Are you feeling okay today?" Haruka asked him.

"Yeah, I feel fine. Why do you ask?"

Haruka twitched her mouth and shrugged. "No particular reason. I'm going to head out now."

"I'll see you later, Au-er Haruka-san."

Haruka huffed, then smiled. "That's better."

Keitaro watched his aunt leave, and when he could no longer hear the sound of her footfalls, he exhaled sharply, his shoulders sagging. "That was too close. You might have warned me, Narusegawa!"

"My bad," Naru replied with a fake smile. "She just appeared out of no where. There was no time to warn you."

"Well, let's hope nothing like that happens again soon. I don't think my heart could take it," Keitaro said, trudging up the stairs. Unsure if anyone else was home, regretting not asking Haruka if that were the case, Keitaro moved as silently as possible, sneaking down the second floor hallway towards his room. Naru walked past him without a care in the world, and he smirked at her blithe attitude.

Keitaro breathed a sigh of relief when he slid his door completely shut behind him, relaxing in the relative safety of his room. "Well, I have to admit that I'm a little impressed," Naru said, nodding her head as she glanced about Keitaro's room. "I expected the place to be a certifiable pig sty, but you've actually managed to keep the place looking pretty spiffy."

Keitaro laughed softly. If only she knew, but he did not feel the need to elaborate for her. "Do you want to sit down?" Keitaro asked, but when Naru gave him a strange look, he instantly realized his folly. "Well, that was a stupid question, wasn't it?"

Naru shook her head. "Don't worry about it. I'd have asked the same thing. More importantly, aren't you nervous?"

"About what?"

Naru gave him a sly look. "About having a girl in your room?"

Keitaro suppressed a laugh. "Is this a trick question?"

"So," Naru asked as she turned away from Keitaro, changing the subject entirely, "what are we going to do now?"

Keitaro simpered. After asking such a loaded question, she goes and flips the script on him. What was she expecting him to say? That he had not had any sort of female companionship since she passed? Truth be told, there was no reason for him to feel nervous, since she still did not feel real to him. But he would not dare openly admit his doubts. If he were wrong, the consequences would be disastrous. "I was under the impression that you were going to tell me," he responded, letting Naru off the proverbial hook.

Pondering over the situation, Naru asked, "Well, what is it that you normally do around this time of day?"

Keitaro moved over to his desk and took a seat, plopping down onto his chair with a hefty sigh. Looking down at the floor, he said, "Nothing."

"Nothing?"

Keitaro shook his head. "I try to sleep because I can't at night, but I usually end up just tossing and turning. So I get up and get my lunch from the kitchen that Shinobu leaves for me every day. After that, I can usually sleep for a few hours, then I get up and watch the sunset."

"So you don't leave this room." Though what Naru said was a statement and not a question, feeling more pitiful than he had in quite some time, Keitaro nodded his head anyway. Gazing upwards, Naru asked the ceiling, "What have I gotten myself into?"

After a moment of silence, Keitaro's face lit up with a flash of insight. "Well, there's one thing that will get me out of the room, at least." Answering Naru's quizzical look, Keitaro said, "The hot spring, remember?"

"Oh, yeah, that sounds like a good idea, so let's get to it!"

Keitaro scratched at his cheek sheepishly. "There's one problem, though." Naru furrowed her brow at him. "I need to change clothes." Naru shook her head at him, obviously not understanding his point. Keitaro's shoulders slumped and he sighed heavily. "Would you mind stepping outside for a second?"

Naru laughed, slapping her hand against her thigh. "I wondered how you'd react to that. I guess there's still hope for you yet."

"Hope for what?" Keitaro asked.

Naru waved her hand dismissively. "You don't need to worry about that right now." Giving him a barely perceptible wink, Naru turned and vanished through his door, seeping through the wood panel like water through a sponge. Keitaro stood in awe of what he just witnessed, until Naru's voice spurred him back to reality. "Hurry it up in there, will ya? It's not nice to keep a lady waiting, you know."

As he hastily changed his clothes, Keitaro wondered idly with some amusement as to when Naru became a lady.

_**12:42pm March 25, 2001**_

Keitaro panted heavily as he labored with the push broom. It had been far too long since he had done this and, though he was initially quite confident he could finish within an hour, he greatly underestimated how out of shape he had become. The noontime sun beat down on his back, his sweat soaked shirt doing little to abate its furious heat.

"I don't remember you looking this pathetic since you first moved in," Naru said, shaking her head in disgust for at least the twentieth time since Keitaro began his work.

Keitaro paused for a moment, considering hurling the broom in her general direction and storming off, but, realizing that would accomplish nothing, he decided to continue his work. "Why don't you do something to help?"

"Like what, yell at the dirt and the muck to get off the rocks?" Naru asked.

Keitaro chuckled. "Sure, why not?"

After a few more minutes of work, Keitaro took a break, sitting on the pool's edge, letting his legs dangle into the hole. "You know, you might look like hell, but I'm willing to bet you're happier when you're working," Naru said.

Keitaro took a long pull from his large cup of water, shrugging his shoulders. "I don't know, I suppose you might be right."

"Whatever made you stop in the first place?" Naru asked him.

Keitaro smiled wistfully. "Too many painful memories, I guess. I tried. Really, I did. But things got too hard. When Aunt Haruka found me crying my eyes out while polishing the floor one day, she told me to take a break, so I did."

"How long was the break?"

"Going on a year and a half," Keitaro said, turning to look at Naru's surprised face. "I just can't get back in the saddle, I guess."

"What about right now? You seem to be doing okay sweeping up."

Keitaro smiled. "I can't explain it. I usually want to just run away when it comes to doing chores, but I feel pretty calm right now."

Naru folded her arms smugly with a huge grin on her face. "See? I'm already helping."

Keitaro shook his head. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves, okay? What about you, though? How do you feel being back here after two years?"

Naru looked around and pursed her lips. "I don't know what to think. I still haven't seen anyone, so it doesn't really feel real yet."

Taking another sip from his water cup, Keitaro wondered aloud, "Where is everyone, anyway?"

_**2:16pm March 25, 2001**_

"I'm worried about that boy," Haruka said to her only guest currently in the teashop, wiping down the table the pair currently occupied with her bar cloth.

A guest…Konno Mitsune would be considered more than a guest at this point; she was more a part-time employee, picking up shifts that Haruka could not cover due to her managerial duties in the building just up the adjacent hill. But as of that very moment, she was not on the clock, thus technically she was a guest.

Kitsune flipped her much longer hair over her right shoulder and took a sip from the teacup laying before her. "Did something strange happen?" There was no need for Kitsune to ask to whom Haruka was referring. Whenever she used the term 'boy' or 'him' or any other similar third person masculine pronoun, it was obvious she was referring to Keitaro.

Kitsune had somehow or another fallen into the role of advisor for Haruka, the pair relaying information to one another regarding the other tenants in the house. It was a natural fit for the fox-faced woman, considering she had the most knowledge about the ins, outs and goings-on inside the building than any of the others might have. It also helped that she had a certain natural penchant for gossip.

As it turned out, working for Haruka with both information and occasionally elbow grease in the teahouse agreed with Kitsune. She might not have realized it at the time, but getting her feet wet in the working world was a healthy coping mechanism for her. She understood and recognized soon after Naru's death her own mortality and she realized she could no longer afford to skate along as if her life had no consequence. She sobered up (mostly), repaired the most strained of her relationships with old friends and family, and started working on her writing on a more regular basis. Her columns were picked up infrequently, but not so long between that she was destitute. Throw in working for Haruka, and she had not been late on a rent payment in over a year.

"Well, firstly he was actually up and about this morning," Haruka began. She took Kitsune's eyebrows disappearing into her bangs as acknowledgement of her surprise, so she continued. "Yeah, he went out today, it seems. I've no idea where and why, but there was no mistaking it."

"Wow," Kitsune replied, letting the information sink in. Without much else to say, she motioned for Haruka to continue. "There was something else, right?"

"Yeah, well, I saw him in the foyer as I was about to leave, and if I'm not mistaken, I could have sworn he was talking to someone, but there was no one there. The last thing he said was, 'I'm sorry'."

"Cell phone, perhaps?" Kitsune asked.

Haruka shook her head and retrieved her pack of cigarettes from her pocket. "He wasn't holding his phone."

Kitsune pondered for a moment, then shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe he was just talking to himself and just to afraid to admit it to you. I did the same thing for while and had a few close calls myself. It was no less embarrassing the last time than the first."

Haruka nodded her head. It seemed plausible enough. Grievers were known to talk aloud as a part of the healing process. "But that wasn't the only thing. He actually agreed to help with some of the chores around the inn."

Kitsune's eyes opened wide in response. "You're right, something is definitely going on."

Lighting her cigarette and taking a long drag, Haruka said, "Any guesses you have would be as good as mine."

Kitsune sighed, a pensive look on her face as she absentmindedly played with a strand of her hair. "Why today, of all days, I wonder?" Haruka shook her head in reply. "Was there anything special about today? What's the date?"

"The twenty-fifth, I believe," Haruka said, taking a sip of her tea. She paused, holding the cup halfway between her lips and the table when she saw Kitsune's face fall, her hand that was playing with her hair dropping to her side. "What is it?"

"I'm such an idiot," Kitsune muttered inwardly. "I know what it is," she said more loudly for Haruka's benefit.

"Care to enlighten me?" Haruka asked, squinting at her counterpart.

"There's only one reason he would have gone out today…and that is…"

* * *

A/N: Again, not much to say this time other than I hope you all are enjoying the story so far and I hope to have the next chapter up in a jiffy. Stay tuned!


	5. Plans and Preparations

_**3:47 pm March 25, 2001**_

"That ought to do it, I think," Keitaro said, exhaling a sigh of relief. He gazed about the area, spying for any remaining patches of grime or dirt that he might have missed among the cobblestone.

Naru, with her hands on her hips, squinted as she looked around after her bespectacled charge. "Looks good to me," she added, giving her approval. Keitaro smirked in her general direction. She was as blind as a bat without her glasses and, hence, useless as a judge of his handiwork as far as he was concerned.

Squatting down with a grunt, Keitaro released a valve neatly hidden by some shrubbery adjacent to the wall of the inn. Water began to pour back into the hot spring from a tube tucked into an obscure corner of the pool. He moved to sit down near the edge of the pool, removed his sandals and hiked up the legs of his pants over his knees. Dipping his toes into the hot water, a tingling sensation crept up his spine as the water slowly rose up his legs. "Just like old times," he noted aloud.

Naru sat down beside him and, although there really was no point in her doing so, she also dipped her ethereal legs into the rising water. "You used to do this kind of thing all the time when you cleaned out here, am I right?" she asked.

Keitaro nodded and craned his head back to look at the bright afternoon sky, watching the clouds crawl against the blue sky-scape. "I can't rightly explain it, but sitting here all alone like this made me feel...at ease; like everything was going to be okay, no matter what went wrong."

After a moment's pause, Naru joined him in looking up at the sky and asked him, "And how about now?"

"For the first time in a while, it feels like the world is right-side up again," Keitaro answered with a smile that surprised him. When was the last time he was able to turn his lips upward without a bitter aftertaste? For the life of him, his could not recall.

"Yeah, I think I understand what you mean," Naru replied softly.

The couple sat quietly for a few minutes, the peaceful sound of the naturally heated water pouring into the pool wafting over them like a peaceful concerto. Keitaro swirled his legs around in the water, staring at the ripples the movements created as they ebbed across the surface.

"I think," Naru interrupted the tranquil silence, "you should become Hinata Sou's kanrinin again."

* * *

"Naru's birthday?" Haruka asked, the cigarette in her mouth rising to the ceiling as if it were connected to her eyebrows by an invisible string.

Kitsune ran a hand over the top of her head, ruffling her hair in annoyance. "Not just her birthday. Today would have been her coming-of-age."

"I see," Haruka responded, extinguishing her half-finished cigarette in the ashtray in the middle of the table. "He probably finally summoned up the courage to go visit her, then."

Kitsune nodded, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "It's about time, too. If we're right, that is."

Haruka leaned forward, resting her elbow on the table, propping up her head with her hand. "There's no guarantee of that. He might have just gone out because he was bored."

Kitsune got a look on her face like she had tasted something bitter. "I don't think so. It's not as if he had a boatload of stuff to entertain him in that room of his. He would have gotten bored a lot sooner being cooped up in there, I would think."

"Point taken," Haruka replied. "That might explain what he said before he noticed me, too. You think he might have been referring to her?"

"It's possible," Kitsune said with a curt nod. "He could have been just talking to himself too."

Haruka inhaled one last drag from her cigarette before extinguishing it in the ashtray. "Either way, it was nice to see him out and about for once. It's been far too long since he's looked so lively."

Kitsune nodded her head in approval, although since she had not seen him, she could not share in Haruka's pleasure at her nephew's recent activities. "Anyway," she said, checking her wristwatch. She gave a start when she saw what time it was, and rose to her feet. "I'd best get doing before it gets too late."

Haruka was an excellent judge of character, and she noticed instantly by the curl on Kitsune's lips that she was up to something. "Got something planned, I presume?"

Kitsune's lips curled even more. "Yeah, something of the sort. Are you gonna be free in an hour or two?"

Haruka shrugged her right shoulder. "I suppose so. Why?"

Kitsune, if she had been smirking before, now wore a toothy grin. "Because we're gonna celebrate."

* * *

_**4:48pm March 25, 2001**_

Despite the day being a Sunday, Motoko's high school student council had petitioned the school to leave the campus open for students in clubs involved in recent competitions to meet for extra practice, to which the faculty graciously agreed. Extra practice time was something Motoko would have never passed up, regardless of whether or not her school's kendo club was involved in the upcoming regional championships. Moreover, she would graduate next month, and this was her last chance to connect with her fellow club mates before she parted with them, this time for good. She gently pushed closed her school locker, thumbing the edge of the sheet metal frame with a nostalgic expression on her face.

As captain of the kendo club, naturally, Motoko was the last to leave the premises. She looked to either side and, for some reason foreign to her, the empty halls around her made her feel gloomy. She was used to being solitary, having been trained to turn her focus solely inward and to trust in her own strength, and private time usually brought her comfort. But in that moment, she was frozen in melancholy.

Taking a deep breath to ward off her negative feelings, Motoko shouldered the harness containing her various training weapons, shrugging against the weight of the wooden and rattan items clunking around inside the container. Turning about face, she had not made it two steps towards the exit before something vibrated in her jacket pocket, catching her attention.

With her free hand, she fished around for the wireless phone dancing about merrily in her jacket. At last, she pulled the culprit free from its home and checked the front of the flip phone to see who was calling before she cracked open the clam-shaped phone with a flick of her thumb. "Hello, Kitsune-san," she answered, her voice even more monotone than was usual.

"Wow, I actually got a hold of you!" the loud voice of Kitsune exclaimed through the speaker, forcing Motoko to pull the phone away from her ear and wince. With an annoyed sigh, she lowered her weapons' harness to the tile floor and sat down on the locker room bench, tossing her hair over her shoulder with a whip of her slender neck.

Motoko hardly liked talking on the phone as it was, but speaking with someone who was both a loudmouth and liked to ramble on about nonsensical topics of no interest to her made her want to throw her phone into a large body of water and walk away without an ounce of regret.

"So I'm assuming you're done with your club activities, am I right?" the voice of Kitsune asked. "Where are you right now?"

"I was just on my way out," Motoko replied curtly. For her, the shorter the conversation was, the better.

"Do you have some money on you?" Motoko closed her eyes and frowned deeply. It was never a good sign if Kitsune ever asked any sort of question regarding money. "Don't give me that look, Motoko-chan!" Kitsune exclaimed through the phone, eliciting a yelp from the kendo-ka. If Motoko knew any better she might have thought Kitsune was a mind reader. "I just need you to make a quick stop at the convenience store near the station and pick up a few things for me. I'll pay you back when you get home."

"I understand," Motoko replied after a short pause. "What is it you need?" After Kitsune listed off a half dozen items of dubious nutritional value, Motoko interjected, "If I may ask, Kitsune-san, what exactly is the occasion?"

"Check your calendar, Motoko-chan. Sorry, but I'm on the run myself, so I've gotta let you go. I'll see you back at Hinata Sou. Bye!"

Motoko might have laughed at Kitsune's abrupt farewell, finding it ironic that Kitsune would be in a hurry for anything, but what the fox-woman said before hanging up had piqued her curiosity. Tapping her index finger against her mouth, Motoko quickly navigated through her phone's menus, reaching the calendar. The name saved as a VIP with a birthday cake icon on that date caused her to gasp in shock. Soon enough, the young woman was wiping away her tears onto the sleeve of her shirt.

* * *

_**6:12pm March 25, 2001**_

"How many times do I need to say it? I said I would give it some thought. Do you expect me to make such an important decision right away?" Keitaro asked, trying to reason with the spiritual form of Naru.

The couple had retreated back to Keitaro's room and, for the better part of an hour, had been having an animated discussion regarding Keitaro becoming the landlord of the inn once again. From the moment Naru first posed the idea, Keitaro was vehemently against it.

But Naru was undeterred. She waved her hand in front of her face as if swatting away a noisome fly. "I certainly don't expect to sit and watch you waffle back and forth while you fail miserably at making a decision one way or the other!"

"It hasn't even been two hours!" Keitaro retorted loudly. "You aren't even giving me a chance!"

"That's because if I let you slack off, you'll just keep skating along as if nothing's changed," Naru replied, putting her hands on her hips in an attempt to display her dominance.

The anger slid from Keitaro's face, and he looked down at her feet with a saddened face. "This isn't like the Toudai entrance exams, Naru. A lot has changed in two years."

Naru harrumphed. "You certainly could have fooled me. Just take a look around you. Is this the way you want to live the rest of your life?"

Keitaro's frown deepened even further. "I never wanted to end up like this, you know."

"But you certainly chose it, didn't you?"

Keitaro shook his head defensively. "No, I didn't choose this. No way!"

"So becoming an outcast in your own home was just a matter of circumstance?"

"You're oversimplifying it," Keitaro replied softly.

"No," Naru said, shaking her head. "You're overcomplicating it."

"No, I'm not. You don't know what it feels like to have everyone look at you in disgust, as if you were the source of all that was wrong in the world, like you were the devil himself. Even if they didn't mean to, everyone looked at me differently after the accident."

"Keitaro," Naru called his name gently when she noticed he was becoming visibly upset.

"And you know how I am," Keitaro continued with a tense laugh, blinking back tears, "Always trying to please everyone else, so I figured it would be better for everyone if I just stayed away. I just couldn't handle the judgmental looks everyone gave me anymore. So, no, I didn't choose this. Life chose this for me. That's just the way it is."

Naru could only watch as Keitaro paced back and forth, trying desperately to fight back the overwhelming surge of emotion that threatened to overwhelm him. She honestly had no idea how strongly he felt, nor could she imagine having the entire world view her as a heel. It was a miracle he had not already attempted to take his own life yet again. "I'm truly, really sorry," she said, trying her best to sound as sincere as she could.

Keitaro took a few shaky breaths and swallowed his pain like a bitter pill. "It's not your fault," he said with a smile so artificial a three-year-old could have seen through it.

Naru took a step forward and shook her head. "But it's not your fault, either. What happened was an accident, don't you remember? If anyone had the right to blame you for anything it would be me, and I promise you that I don't blame you at all. You don't need to burden yourself with all of this guilt anymore."

Her words sounded great on paper, Keitaro thought, but they did not mean anything in the real world, where no one else but he could hear them. He still had to deal with their cursory glances, the whispers behind his back, the loneliness. She certainly had a point, though. No one was affected by the tragedy as much as she, and yet…

She had already forgiven him.

As her words rooted into his heart, Keitaro felt the load on his shoulders begin to lift, albeit merely slightly. "Thank you. I think that's just what I needed to hear."

Naru shook her head again. "I just wish I could have told you before all this happened."

Since the morning, a question haunted Keitaro's mind without repose. It plagued him for two years prior; a question he thought would never be answered in his lifetime, but he was offered a miraculous opportunity with Naru's sudden appearance to him at the graveyard. He had heard it from Kitsune before, but as far as he was concerned, what she told him was nothing but heresy.

He was at first deathly afraid to ask her, but after hearing her honest words of forgiveness, he became frightened of what might happen should he not pose his question to her. "Naru," he said softly, his voice a low baritone. "Why did you do it?"

"Huh?" Naru replied, squinting at the ronin.

Keitaro lifted his face and stared at Naru with deadpan eyes. "Why did you pull the gun away from me?"

Naru was initially surprised by his question that seemed to come out of left field. But she soon understood by the utterly serious air about him that it had been weighing heavily on his mind. But was it really possible that he did not know? Would he not understand unless she told him herself? "Baka, that's because I…"

A knock at the door caught the pair like a bolt from the blue. "Urashima-sempai?" the soft voice of Shinobu asked from opposite the sliding door. "Are you in there?"

"Shinobu-chan?" Naru exclaimed in excitement. Keitaro winced, waved his hands at Naru and shushed her. "Oh, sorry," Naru said, blushing in embarrassment when she realized her folly. "I got a little too excited I guess."

Keitaro shuffled to the door and cracked it open. Shinobu took a quick step back when she saw the former manager's face and looked to one side. "What's wrong, Shinobu-chan?" Keitaro asked the girl.

"I was wondering," Shinobu began but then she stopped and shook her head. "Er, actually, Kitsune-san was wondering if you wouldn't mind coming downstairs and helping her out with something." She kept glancing between him and the door, unable to meet his eyes for more than a fraction of a second. While she waited for his reply, she wondered idly if he could hear her heart pounding in her chest as well as she could.

Keitaro turned his head away from her and gave an audible shushing sound. Wondering if he had company, but unwilling to ask, Shinobu stood on her tip toes, trying to steal a peek into the former kanrinin's room. She slammed down onto her heels painfully as Keitaro turned his head back to her. She closed her eyes and smiled, trying to hide it as well as she could.

"Sure, I'll be down in a couple of minutes," Keitaro finally told her.

If Shinobu was smiling before, now she was positively beaming, and she had instantly forgotten about the waves of pain crashing against her feet. "Great! I'll let everyone know!"

Shinobu dashed off down the hallway before Keitaro could ask what she meant by 'everyone'. "What? Everyone's here?" Naru asked, bouncing on her feet, unable to contain her excitement.

Keitaro frowned and pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. "Geez, you nearly made me blow it back there. You really need to keep it down when I'm talking to someone, you know?"

Naru stopped her hopping about Keitaro's floor space. "I wasn't about to let you say no."

"Assuming I was?" Keitaro asked.

"Not taking the chance."

Keitaro took a deep breath, steeling himself against the fact that this was likely to be a long evening.

* * *

A/N: Progress is made. Important words are spoken. The gauntlet is thrown down. Now, Keitaro will face his fears. There will be merriment. There will be tears. There will be a decision. Until next time...


	6. Missing You

A/N: Before we get started with this chapter, I'd just like to say thanks to all who've supported me throughout the years, and as we say goodbye to what I thought was a pretty crappy 2009, I hope to personally make 2010 a great year, and I hope for the same for everyone else out there reading this. You guys (and gals) are the best! Happy New Year!

My Angel: Missing You

_**6:45pm March 25, 2001**_

It was a wondrous sight that met his eyes when Keitaro descended the flight of stairs into the common room. A large banner reading "Congratulations Naru!" was suspended from the ceiling, no doubt the product of a certain scientist taking up residence on the third floor, as it bore the unmistakable touch of her handiwork. At least fifty helium-filled balloons were tied to every available space in which a string could be knotted, and confetti and string littered the floor. Refreshments and party favors sat upon the table, completing the ensemble.

The common room was a beautiful sight, but it could not compare to the five faces beaming at him from the center of the room. Their smiles stole the breath from his chest. He had been starved of them for two long years, and now they looked upon him like the sorrow of the past two trips around the sun was just some awful dream.

Despite the wave of emotion swelling in Keitaro's heart, there was yet one other whose reaction was even stronger. "Oh my god," Naru said with a gasp as she brushed past Keitaro's shoulder. Keitaro watched as she clutched her hands over her face and squinted, tears rolling down her eyes and over her hands. "Kitsune…you remembered."

"Are you just going to stand there, or are you going to come down and say hello?" the subject of Naru's statement asked. Keitaro blinked a few times to calm himself then trod down the remaining steps.

He was honestly surprised by what his former tenants had done, but was reduced to shock when his aunt met him at the end of the stairway and pulled him into a hug. It was unlike her to express her feelings in any way, especially in such a physical manner. "Haruka-san?" Keitaro asked, his voice muffled against her shoulder.

"Welcome home, Keitaro," Haruka said quietly in his ear, squeezing him tightly for a moment before letting him go.

"Did you do all of this?" Keitaro asked.

Haruka, busy wiping at her eyes with her fingertips, turned her head and motioned towards Kitsune. "She's the one responsible for all of this, not me."

Haruka stepped aside as Kitsune approached. "Today is a very special day…for all of us. It wouldn't do if we didn't have a party to celebrate. And it's all thanks to you, Keitaro. If you didn't go out today, we probably would have forgotten all about it. So, thank you."

Keitaro was stunned again when Kitsune closed the distance between them and hugged him tightly. He wrapped his arms around her and returned her embrace. He could feel her sob several times as her shoulders jerked involuntarily in his grasp. He glanced to his side and looked at Naru, expecting to see her fuming from her friend's physical contact with him, but instead, he saw Naru crying openly, her hand clasped over her heart. But her tears were happy. She was glad her friend remembered something so important after all this time.

"She would be so happy to see this, Kitsune. You did a great job," Keitaro said, rubbing her back tenderly. Kitsune pulled away from Keitaro and laughed between her sobs. "You all did a wonderful job," he addressed the rest. "I think Naru would have really enjoyed this." Glancing at her again, she was nodding her head as she wiped away the tears streaking down her cheeks. "No, I know she would have."

Not wanting the others to feel left out, Keitaro also hugged Su and Shinobu, thanking them both for their help. Even the normally reserved Motoko let her guard down enough to allow Keitaro to give her a short, polite squeeze. He did it for Naru's sake, for he knew she would be hugging the daylights out of all of them had she been able. Regardless, there was not a dry eye in the household at that moment, for the fractured family had been mended, even if only for a short while.

As the party began, Naru marveled at how different the younger girls appeared. Shinobu and Su had matured greatly in the bloom of puberty, and she could not stop gushing over how gorgeous they had become. Motoko had become the symbol of elegance; her chiseled features refined over the past two years. She had an air of an old-fashioned noblewoman, both beautiful and powerful.

Haruka looked the same as always, except perhaps for the recent wrinkles that took residence upon her eyes and lips. Now that she had the opportunity to really take her in, she could tell that times had been tough for the current landlady. Her plate had been full before the accident, but now it seemed the weight of the world was on her shoulders, and her appearance had suffered for it. Nevertheless, at the moment nothing short of a natural disaster would be able to wipe the smile that adorned her face.

But it was Kitsune that caught Naru's attention more than any other. The two had shared a storied history, knowing one another for the majority of their lives. Naru had always thought her friend was very pretty, but the way she looked now completely blew her away. She must have been taking good care of herself, for she looked absolutely radiant. She had a healthy clarity in her eyes that suggested she had given up booze, and her gorgeously long hair she had not seen since middle school made her look like a sophisticated businesswoman. Naru was certain if she had looked this way while she was living, she would have grown insanely jealous of her beauty.

Keitaro, in the meantime, was torn between Naru's comments about the others and sustaining his own conversation with them at the same time. It was a trial by fire, and on more than one occasion he was forced to ask someone to repeat what she said to him. After a half hour he concluded that they should come up with some sort of signal that would tell her that she has his attention and when he is paying attention to what another is saying, else he appear to be either deaf or a complete buffoon.

Otherwise, the evening progressed like a festive memorial, with stories of Naru shared over food and drink. There were many that Keitaro had not heard before from before his arrival at Hinata Sou, some flattering and others embarrassing, much to the chagrin of Naru, who barked out protestations like a helpless dog, imploring Keitaro to ignore certain parts of what he heard.

"No, no, I've got a really juicy one for you," Kitsune said before taking a pull from her can of cola. "The absolute best Naru story you'll ever hear." Her eyes shone brightly, and all could tell just by looking at the way she fidgeted on her pillow that she was anxious to tell her tale. She glanced about the table, and every eye was upon her with restless rapture.

"Oh god, no," Naru said, and Keitaro suppressed a chuckle, keeping his eyes fixed on the fox sitting across from him.

"I call this one, 'the day she forgot her glasses'."

"Kitsune, you promised you'd never tell anyone!" Naru exclaimed, but of course, no one except the ronin could hear her. He held his hand over his mouth to keep from laughing out loud before the punch line.

"So one day…I think it was in eighth grade or so…yeah, that's it. So anyway, Naru had forgotten where she put her glasses, and of course you know she's blind as a bat without them. Anyway, so being the super cool honor student that she was, she absolutely refused to be late for homeroom."

Kitsune paused to take another sip of her beverage, much to the chagrin of her party-mates. They hooted and hollered at her, and Keitaro took the opportunity to steal a look at Naru, who was curled up in the corner with her face buried in her knees. He smiled a cockeyed grin at her. Whatever the ending to Kitsune's supposedly infamous story was, it was obviously something she was very sensitive about. But at the same time, she probably did not understand why they were sharing such embarrassing stories about her in the first place.

"Oh man, would Naru ever kill me for this if she heard that I told any of you," Kitsune said, giggling madly.

"I'd kill you now if I could," Naru mumbled from her isolated corner of the room.

"So anyway, we get to class, and a note was posted on all of the classroom doors telling the students that the gym changing rooms had changed for that day because of some maintenance issue in a few of the classrooms. I don't think much of it at the time, but I had COMPLETELY forgotten that Naru couldn't even see the note, much less read it without her glasses."

"Oh boy," Su noted, bouncing up and down on her rump. "I think I know where this is going."

"Oh no, Su, it's MUCH better than you think. So, when our physical education period came around, I went to go to my assigned classroom, which was right next to Naru's class. Now, let me preface this by saying that there were a hundred students in the hallway at the time."

"At least," Keitaro heard Naru mumble. "It was probably closer to two."

Keitaro snickered despite his best efforts to the contrary. It was easy enough for even a simpleton like him to surmise the conclusion to Kitsune's story, and with Naru's background commentary, he simply could not help himself. "I'm sorry," he said with a cough, trying to recover. "Go ahead."

Kitsune leaned forward, spreading her arms out wide for emphasis. "So the next thing we all know, we hear this blood-curdling scream and some girl bursts out of one of the classrooms into the hallway."

Su began to giggle, and covered her mouth to keep from interrupting Kitsune's story.

"With no shirt on."

Shinobu turned red in the face, and she touched her burning cheeks with her hands in a futile attempt to cool them down.

"And no skirt, either."

Motoko visibly flinched, trying desperately to hide the smirk on her face.

"In front of everybody in the hallway."

Haruka chuckled lightly. It was about the best reaction from her anyone could expect.

"And when all of the boys saw the school idol standing in front of them clad in only her knickers, well, let's just say there wasn't a dry nose among them."

"And they were lucky they were only bleeding from their noses after that," Naru grumbled before placing her head back between her knees to hide the obvious embarrassment on her face.

Keitaro began to laugh openly and, one by one, the girls joined him. They laughed for minutes on end, until they all lay on their backs, their stomachs hurting from the effort. Haruka watched with a smile as the others rolled around the floor. "This sounds like a familiar story," she noted aloud. "Doesn't it, Keitaro?"

Keitaro sat up, straining as he did so. He had not laughed that hard since who knows when. He chuckled at his aunt's question. The others followed suit, laughs continuing to escape their lungs. "It sure does, doesn't it?" Keitaro inquired.

"It's just like when Urashima-sempai first came to Hinata Sou!" Shinobu exclaimed.

Kitsune harrumphed. "That's right. I never thought about it before, but that might explain why she took such a liking to you…despite her dismissive attitude."

Looking towards Naru, Keitaro noticed her turn her head to the side, as if afraid to meet his gaze. So it was true then. Helping him to hide his lie, meeting him at the train stop when he was exposed as a lowly ronin, helping him to study, forgiving him for all the stupid, perverted accidents that occurred around him. All of it because, though Naru would never admit it, they shared a common experience. "Kindred spirits, huh?"

Naru turned her gaze towards Keitaro like he had said something strange, but she did not say a word. "Yeah, in a way, I suppose we were," Keitaro stated, looking back at her with a smile on his face.

"I really miss her."

It was a simple statement, one spoken with the utmost honesty, and should not have been surprising in the least. However, the source of the voice, cracking with sobs, being the one least likely to have said something so earnest, rendered the remainder of the table speechless.

Motoko, feeling her body losing strength under the weight of the powerful emotions sweeping over her, tilted in Kitsune's direction. She buried her head into the eldest tenant's chest, sniffling and weeping like no one had ever witnessed before.

Kitsune reeled for a moment, not expecting the strong-willed kendo mistress to suddenly display such a raw sentiment. But she soon realized that it was something that they had all felt, but might have been afraid to admit. She ran a hand lovingly through Motoko's silky black hair and said, "I do, too."

"Me too," Shinobu said, somber tears falling from her blue eyes. Haruka, who was sitting next to her, pulled the young woman into a hug. Shinobu latched onto the elder Urashima, clutching on her apron.

Unexpectedly, Su snuggled up to Keitaro, rubbing her head into his chest. "I miss Keitaro," she said with uncharacteristic quietness.

"What?" Keitaro asked the young foreigner. He sat still as stone as Kaolla hugged him, sniffling softly.

"Kaolla-san is right," Shinobu said in agreement, releasing her grip on Haruka. "I miss sempai, too."

Keitaro shook his head in bewilderment. "But I've been here the whole time. What's there to miss?"

As Motoko continued to hold onto her, Kitsune replied, "I think what they're trying to say is that they want the old Keitaro back. The one that would play with Su and help her test her inventions and act like a klutz and make Shinobu cry."

Shinobu gasped. "He wasn't that bad, Kitsune-san!" she exclaimed, admonishing the perennially close-eyed woman.

Kitsune looked down and shook the woman she held in her arms softly to catch her attention. "Wouldn't you like to have the old Keitaro back, too?"

Motoko did not answer for a moment. But then, she nodded her head slightly.

"I guess we're all in agreement then," Haruka said, leaning forward and resting her head on her hand. "So what about you, Keitaro? You've got a house full of ladies that want you back."

Keitaro looked down at Su and patted her on the head. "I don't know what to say, you guys."

"Yes you do," Naru said, surprising Keitaro with the sound of her voice, as she had been silent for the last several minutes. Keitaro looked up at her, noticing she was no longer sulking in the corner as the conversation had shifted away from the embarrassing stories about her. Instead, she sat on her knees, looking at him keenly. "You'll return to your rightful place as manager."

"I'm afraid it might be too soon," Keitaro said aloud accidentally, forgetting where he was for the slightest of moments. Both he and Naru recoiled, afraid the cat might have been let out of the bag.

Luckily, no one was the wiser. "I wouldn't have you take over everything at once, Keitaro," Haruka said, bailing him out. "We'll take things one day at a time."

If he was being truly honest, Keitaro really did not want anything to do with being manager again. But with everyone looking earnestly at him like that, he understood that he had a responsibility. Something to strive for, despite the pain he felt in his heart. A reason to fight against the darkness.

"You don't need to answer right away," Haruka said, placing her hand over his own as it rested on the tabletop. "Just give it some thought. We'll wait for you as long as it takes."

Keitaro may have nodded his head in reply, but it was perhaps in that very moment that his mind was already made up. Maybe he was not alone, as he had supposed so many times in the last two years. And when his aunt said they would wait for him, his decision was sealed.

They were not avoiding him. They were waiting for him to come back to them, giving him the space he needed to find a way out of the maze his blackened psyche had crafted for him to escape. If he had known it would have been this easy, he would have done it long ago. Nevertheless, he was not angry with himself for being so foolish. The past…cannot be changed.

"Now, everyone, how about we go and enjoy the newly cleaned hot spring thanks to Keitaro, eh?" Kitsune asked the troupe.

"You cleaned the hot spring today, Urashima?" Motoko asked him, her eyes red and bleary, but looking at him with astonishment.

Keitaro, performing his trademark scratching of the back of his head, replied, "Yeah, I did actually."

They all smiled at him. That was the Keitaro they all knew…and came to adore. The one that had been lost to them for so long was slowly climbing from the mire and back into their lives.

One day at a time.

* * *

_**10:36 pm March 25, 2001**_

"Everyone looked so different," Naru said, leaning against the wall as Keitaro pulled his futon out of the closet. "Two years sure can make a lot of difference, can't it?"

Keitaro rolled the mattress flat on the floor with a grunt. "Yeah, a huge difference."

As wide as the expanse between the past and present, Naru could still feel an overwhelming sense of familiarity with them. Their appearances might have changed, but their personalities, their idiosyncrasies and mannerisms all remained the same. "But they're still the same people, aren't they?" Naru asked rhetorically.

"Yeah, they are," Keitaro answered all the same, rising back to his feet. He turned around several times as if looking for something, then sheepishly asked, "So how are we gonna do this?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you don't need to sleep, right?"

Naru shook her head, looking dumbfounded for a moment before the realization struck her. "Oh…yeah, that. I guess that might be a little uncomfortable, wouldn't it?"

Keitaro shrugged. "I wouldn't worry about it too much. It's not like I get much sleep at night, anyway. What if I just lied down and we talked for a while?"

Naru pursed her lips. "I suppose that might be alright," she said sarcastically.

Keitaro shifted his weight onto his other foot. "There's just one thing, though."

"What's that?"

"Would you mind stepping out so I can change?" Keitaro asked, looking rather embarrassed.

"Oh," Naru said, her cheeks coloring over with the slightest tinge of pink. "Yeah."

If he was being timed, Keitaro was sure he would have set some sort of record for the fastest changing of clothes that did not involve those quick-change tricks one would see on a talent show on television. In an instant, he was out of his street clothes and into his pajamas and under the covers of his futon.

When he called for Naru to come back in, to his surprise, she was wearing what used to be her favorite set of pajamas: an oversized pink t-shirt and a pair of red plaid cotton pants. Keitaro couldn't keep himself from laughing out loud. "What's the problem?" Naru asked, frowning deeply at him.

"I'm sorry," he replied with a snort. "I just wasn't expecting to see you wearing that."

"Well, excuse me. I don't feel comfortable wearing the same thing all the time. It's night time, so I'm choosing to wear something night time appropriate, alright?"

Keitaro stopped laughing, but could not help but smile at her. He always thought she was adorable when she was caught on the defensive. "It's fine with me, seriously. You just surprised me."

"So anyway," Naru muttered, sitting down next to Keitaro's bed. "What do you want to talk about?"

And talk they did…about the impromptu party held in Naru's honor, about old times, and about times to come. And in a day full of surprises for everyone under the roof of that fated inn, there was one more in store for the former and once-more-to-be kanrinin. Less than an hour after lying in his bed, Keitaro drifted into a deep sleep with his glasses still on his face.

Naru simply sat and stared at him for a full hour straight. His face looked more peaceful than at anytime she had ever laid eyes on him, including when she was still alive. And somehow, instinctively, she knew that the next time the sun rose over the mountains to the east that life would be different in Hinata Sou. And if she had anything to do with it, it would be for the better of every soul it harbored.

"Sweet dreams, you baka."

* * *

A/N (After Story): Allow me to thank all of you once again for continuing to read my works. Review, comment, favorite, whatever. I'll do my best to reply to your feedback after the new year. Stay frosty, my good friends! C


	7. Suspicion

Author's Note: I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize for the lack of prompt updates. I know that I promised quicker releases for this particular story, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. There's simply too much work/home related stress going on right now that's sucking the creative juices out of me at the moment. Hopefully, this too shall pass, and that right soon. With no further ado, let's get on with the story.

* * *

My Angel: Suspicion

_**2:45 pm June 17, 2001**_

It was an aimless tune that escaped the kanrinin's vocal chords as he pushed and pulled the broom to and fro, sending the gathered dust up into clouds among the sea breeze. He was aware he was only displacing the dirt and not removing it completely, but the day's winds were fierce enough to blow any gathered rubbish from its pile. And the scorching heat from the fireball in the sky warranted he do as little of his outdoor chores as possible.

Taking a brief pause in his work to wipe the congealed sweat from his brow with the sleeve of his shirt, Keitaro noted aloud, "It sure is hot today."

It had been just shy of three months since that fateful day, when Keitaro Urashima had returned to being the part-time, and now full-time manager of Hinata Sou. It had been a precarious journey for all involved, with many starts and stops. He had thought it would be as simple as leaping back into the saddle that he had forsaken for two years. However, in reality it was more like breaking a new horse, saddling it, and training it so it would not buck him off.

There were times he vowed to quit for good and leave the premises once and for all. In fact, at the beginning, whenever anything went wrong, even something as minute as a light drizzle on laundry day, he lost all heart and retreated to his room, sulking for hours on end. Finding his resolve after a few hours of pouting, he promised to never allow himself to feel overwhelmed like that again. And without fail, the cycle would repeat a few days later, when something else went awry. As time passed, the peaks became wider and the valleys more narrow. He began to accept that things were bound to go wrong every now and again, and to relish in his work.

"It sure seems like it. You're sweating like a pig," the voice only Keitaro could hear replied.

When he felt he was lost, and at his worst, it was that very same voice that lifted Keitaro from the abyss. When he wanted to give up, that voice pushed him forward. It was a magnet of the same charge; he felt repelled by it, but it was the only thing able to get him to move when he felt like things were upside down.

To the contrary, when Keitaro was in a good mood, he and Naru were magnets of opposing charge. They simply clicked, and the conversations they shared, whether substantive or frivolous, helped to keep Keitaro level headed and on-task. It was nice for him to have someone to talk to while he worked that was not barking orders in his ear about what to do next for a change.

"Not that you would know, or anything, having not done an honest day's work since…well since before I ever met you, at the very least," Keitaro mumbled in a joking manner well loud enough for Naru to hear.

Naru rasped her lips at the spectacled manager. "I'll have you know I did a lot to help around here when your grandmother was still managing things here. We all did, for that matter."

Keitaro shook his head and sighed. If he ever had thoughts that this Naru might not be the one he remembered, he needed only to mock her responsibility. He always thought she was a little too defensive, even when presented with an obvious yarn. "It was a joke. And I knew about that. Granny told me all about just how helpful you girls were when she was running things around here. I wonder what the hell happened."

Naru gazed up into the heavens, tapping her index finger against her cheek as if pondering the meaning of life. "Oh, I dunno, something about a certain guy peeping on and grabbing naked girls' naughty bits, being a panty thief and generally being a pervert just doesn't seem to bring out the helpfulness in us women, I suppose."

Keitaro stopped what he was doing and frowned at the ethereal woman. She stuck her tongue out at him and winked. "What's the matter? You can dish it out but can't take it?"

He scoffed at the girl, but was unable to keep his lips from curling upward. He thought that she could be quite cute when she was acting playful.

And if she wanted to play, he figured two could play at that game. With a painted smile, he continued to sweep, collecting the remainder of the debris into a pile. "Hey Naru?" he asked.

"Yeah, what?" she turned back around, facing Keitaro. Still wearing a smile as big as he could muster, he flicked his wrists and sent a cloud of dust, leaves and tiny branches directly into Naru's face.

The sound that came out of the woman's mouth after that could only be described as the sound a puppy would make if its tail were stepped on. Hard. She yelped, running away from the natural trash while clawing and scratching at her face, despite the fact the stuff passed directly through her "body".

Keitaro chased her about the courtyard, brushing the tip of the broom on the cobblestone near her feet as she fled from his assault. "What's the matter, huh? What's the matter?" he egged her as a fit of giggles overcame her.

"You're such a jerk!" she exclaimed as she backpedaled from the menacing broom in Keitaro's hands, her voice jovial despite her insult. "If I wasn't dead, I'd kill you!"

"Hey, it looks like Keitaro's having a lot of fun! Can I play, too?" someone asked from behind the kanrinin.

He froze instantly as if exposed to an absolute zero environment, his clothing and hair waving gently in the breeze as he stood still as stone. He turned around slowly to face the intruder: a toothy Kaolla Su standing on the top step of the stairs leading to town, tilting her head to the side like a curious animal as she looked upon him with a merry smile.

The broom nearly slipped from his hands as Keitaro snapped to attention upon seeing the newcomer. "Su-chan!"

Su tilted her head in the opposite direction and waved at Keitaro with her free hand. "I'm home," she said.

"Welcome back," Keitaro replied nervously. He wondered, as she skipped past him, how long she had been standing there, but he lacked the intestinal fortitude to ask. It was better to assume with Kaolla that she had just arrived anyway, as the young foreigner tended to keep to herself any strange goings-on about the house. "You're back early, aren't you?" he asked instead.

Su opened the front door and nodded. "Shinobu had a club meeting, so she told me not to wait for her today."

"Ah, I see," Keitaro replied, making a mental note to be more wary of the time. He must have looked like he was running around the courtyard chasing a bug. His cheeks suddenly turned red in his embarrassment. "Sorry," he apologized.

Winking a jade eye in Keitaro's direction, Su added, "Besides that, I'm close to a breakthrough with my latest invention. With any luck, there shouldn't be a meltdown with I activate it this time."

Keitaro laughed as he wiped a bead of sweat from his brow. "Let's hope not, Su-chan. I don't think I could handle another six-figure repair bill."

Su shrugged. "No worries. I built a containment grid around it this time, so if something does go wrong, the only thing that will blow up is the device."

Keitaro blinked, without the slightest clue as to what the sixteen-year-old was talking about. "Well, do your best, Su-chan!" He waved to the girl as she disappeared behind the door and closed it behind her.

He turned back to Naru, who looked like she had been holding her breath for several moments, as she exhaled heavily once the door was shut. "We really need to be more careful," she said.

Keitaro nodded back, thanking his lucky stars it was Su that happened upon him this time and not someone more astute, such as Motoko or Kitsune. If either of them discovered him talking to someone who was not there, he would likely be institutionalized.

On the other side of the door, Su was lost in thought as she stepped out of her shoes and kicked them into the corner of the entryway. She stared at the floor as she padded across the foyer, her stocking-clad feet making a distinct shuffling sound as she dragged them along the hardwood.

For anyone that knew the blond-haired girl more intimately than an acquaintance, that person would find it quite strange to see Kaolla Su appearing so pensive. On the surface, she seemed to be happy-go-lucky; the type of person that would simply go with the flow. Definitely not the type to worry about anything other than what she would eat for her next meal or scraping together enough spare parts for her next barmy invention.

Perhaps these stereotypes might have been true of this girl three years ago. Indeed, even she herself would tell you that before everyone's lives were turned upside down, she was the most self-absorbed person she knew. She lived from one moment to the next, unaware and uncaring of the pain and grief she was partly responsible for inflicting on her dorm manager.

With the death of one of her best friends, Su learned the meaning of mortality. No matter the advancement of science, no machination she devised would be able to replace what had been lost. Oh, but she tried. She poured the very best of her talent into an incredible invention she theorized would be able to house Naru's personality. It was a simple thing; just something she could talk to when she felt lonely in the middle of the night and could not sleep.

But it failed. It did not look like her. Or smell like she smelled. It had no warmth. No compassion. It could not hold her and tell her everything was going to be all right. It was nothing except a dry, empty voice, devoid of anything resembling humanity.

Nothing would replace Naru. But she still had friends that cared about her and would do anything for her. The lesson had been learned the hard way. Su quietly dismantled the device one day and stored the parts for use in other projects. She never thought about it again.

This particular failed experiment had an unintended side effect. The girl had since expanded her field of study to more…human…sciences, predominantly to those of psychology. She became interested in learning of the inner workings of the human mind rather than machines.

As a part of this study, she began to pay greater attention to the behaviors and habits of those around her. As a consequence, while she might have appeared to be her normal self amongst her friends, particularly to the other residents of Hinata Sou, she was much more apt to catch on to certain things. Such as a man seemingly talking to and chasing no one about the front of the building while he cleaned.

And that was not the first time she happened upon Keitaro in such an awkward circumstance. By her count, that was the fifth time already that month she caught him acting in a way that was unlike him, or at least, what she considered "like him". At first, she dismissed his strange actions as some sort of coping mechanism that helped him acclimate to his duties, but recently his behavior had become increasingly pronounced.

It was no mistake that she arrived home early on that day. In fact, it was something she had planned days in advance for that very reason…to confirm her suspicions. And it seemed her worst fears were realized. How she managed to keep the smile on her face through that moment, she had no idea at all. How she wished someone would appear in front of her and tell her it was all just an elaborate hoax being played on her.

Her shoulders sagged under the weight of her burden as she closed the door to her room behind her. It was not likely anyone else in the Hinata House saw what she had seen or had come to the same conclusion about the manager, or else it would have come up during one of the nightly sessions of chitchat and gossiping amongst the female tenants in the hot spring.

No, she must have been the first to realize it. How ironic, she thought, as she was usually the last to hear about such important news. And it would pain her greatly to tell everyone that the man they all loved and cared about was suffering from psychosis. But she must, and soon, lest he bring harm to himself or to one of the others.

_**8:36 pm June 20, 2001**_

Even during the summer months, nothing felt quite as refreshing as taking a dip into the naturally hot mineral bath in the rear of the Hinata Sou dorms. Especially so after a hard day of sitting through six hours of droning lecture in school, or four hours of kendo training under in near hundred degree temperatures, or serving ungrateful old men tea all day long, or falling asleep in front of the keyboard while trying to think of something fresh and interesting for the latest column in the paper.

"This never gets old, does it?" asked the latter subject as she ran her fingers through her slate gray hair, emitting a glorious yawn as she did so. The warmth of the water sent a shiver down Kitsune's spine as it seeped down into her core.

A nightly dip in the hot spring by the tenants of the dorm was something that had long since moved past habit. It was more a ritual now than anything else, so ingrained into the daily lives of all living there, and even one that did not, that it was as natural as the inhalation and exhalation of air.

Motoko eyeballed the fox-eyed girl with a cool expression as she settled into her usual spot amongst the carved rock. "Did you not get enough sleep this afternoon, Kitsune-san?"

Kitsune smirked at the swordswoman. "Was that a hint of sarcasm I heard there, Motoko? I'm an expert in that field. I can give you a few tips if you'd like."

Tossing her hair over her shoulder, Motoko replied simply, "I'll pass."

While the fox and the kendo-ka continued to trade barbs with one another, Haruka noticed Shinobu staring down into the water, apparently distraught over something. "Is something the matter, Shinobu?" she asked the girl, catching her attention with a sharp start. "Whoa, relax there, girl. I'm not gonna bite your head off. I'm just wondering what's up."

"Sorry," Shinobu apologized, fidgeting a bit in her seat. "It's nothing much, really." Her gaze returned to the pool, and she silently hoped the elder Urashima would let the sleeping dog lie.

"I see," Haruka replied, lifting her arms from the pool and resting them on the rock above the surface of the water. "You know, high school can be a tough transition for girls like you," she added sagely.

Shinobu physically winced. She might have known better than to try to hide it from Haruka, as she was not the type to let someone wallow in her own sorrow. Especially considering the fact that if she had learned one thing in the last three years, it was to not be afraid to ask others for help. "Yeah, I guess so."

"It can't be easy for you. You've always had trouble making new friends."

Shinobu nodded her head. Indeed, other than Su and Akiko, there was no one from school she considered more than an acquaintance. On the other hand, at least she was no longer being bullied, as the girls that gave her such a hard time in middle school opted to go to a different high school closer to their own homes.

She knew she would never be considered popular. She had neither the looks nor the disposition. But making new friends was something she always looked forward to when she entered high school, and so far, her efforts were utterly fruitless.

"Don't fret about it too much," Haruka reassured the girl. "You're probably just a late bloomer like I was."

Shinobu smiled a bit at this revelation. "You didn't have very many friends in high school either?" she asked, unable to keep her curiosity in check.

Haruka nodded. "Yeah, but I wasn't really shy like you. I was more of a tomboy-type. None of the girly-girls would be caught dead near me, and the guys…well, they avoided me like the plague. Except for one idiot in particular…" Haruka's voice trailed off as she reminisced with a smile.

"What happened?" Shinobu pressed.

Haruka laughed softly while thinking about it. "He just wouldn't leave me alone. No matter what I said to him or did to him, he just stuck to me like a leech. He told me he liked me. I guess he must have seen something in me that I couldn't see in myself."

"So you dated him?"

Haruka shook her head. "No. I chased him off. Told him he wasn't good enough for me, or something like that. But he still hung around me all the time. But I was grateful for it. He was one of the few people in high school I considered a friend."

"I see," Shinobu replied, her eyes tailing up towards the night sky. "It must have been nice to be loved like that."

"Don't worry. Your time will come."

Kaolla Su splashed a bucket of chilly water over her head, rinsing the sudsy soap from her naturally darkened skin. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves as she stared into the empty bucket in her hands. For three days she sat on her information regarding Keitaro, trying to work up the will to break news that was universally bad.

What would be gained by saying something? He seemed happy, and no one else seemed to notice, and would anyone mind if they did? And what if she did tell everyone? He would obviously need to be removed from his duties, and it was quite possible that he would need to be admitted to a mental facility for treatment. For how long, who knew?

The thought had Su on the verge of ripping her hair out of her head. But if it meant having a truly healthy Keitaro after all was said and done, she finally decided, then that was the best path to follow. Tonight…she would tell them tonight. Waiting any longer would do nothing except delay the inevitable. There was no better time. There was no better place.

"Everyone, I have something very important to tell you," she suddenly blurted out, standing in front of the entrance of the hot spring with her soul feeling as naked as her physical body. Four heads turned to face her. One with concern, the next perplexed, another stoic as usual, and the last with a snarky grin.

She froze as if she had inadvertently stared directly into Medusa's eyes. She suddenly became aware that this it was unlike her to be the center of attention for anything. She was accustomed to being nothing more than a member of the supporting cast. But this was for the sake of the person she loved like her very own brother. She could nil afford to be unable to follow through.

"Kaolla-san?" Shinobu asked, squinting slightly at her friend. She had never seen Kaolla with such a serious looking expression in the many years she had known her fellow high school student. "What's the matter?"

Kitsune sat with rapt attention with a smirk on her face, as if waiting for the punchline of a joke that was not to come.

Su closed her eyes while she took a deep breath. "It's about Keitaro," she began. "Something seems to be wrong with him."

"Let me guess," Kitsune interjected, trying to keep her giggles in check. "He's raided everyone's undie drawers and started wearing our bras on his head like a set of earmuffs."

Kaolla sighed heavily and shook her head. She had a feeling she would not be taken seriously, despite the gravity of the situation. And Kitsune's mocking response justified her fears of telling anyone about what she knew.

Haruka, noticing the downtrodden look on Su's face, raised a hand in Kitsune's direction. "Hold on a second, Mitsune," she told her fellow shorthaired woman, and she quickly shut her mouth. Once all was quiet, Haruka nodded at the girl standing above the rest of the group. "Go ahead, Su."

With Haruka having come to her aid, Su suddenly felt a surge of courage race through her body. She opened her mouth to speak, but felt as if she were talking down to her friends rather than to them. She moved to sit down on the edge of the pool, lowering herself to the level of her audience, before beginning her story.

"I noticed it a couple of months ago, around the time Keitaro took back over his managerial duties. Every now and again, when no one else was around, I noticed that he was seemingly," Su paused to swallow the bitter taste in her mouth and take a breath. She felt at that very moment like she was betraying a good friend, but there was no other path for her to take. "Talking to someone that wasn't there."

Haruka and Kitsune shared a suspicious glance at one another, while Shinobu and Motoko gazed down at the steaming water they were soaking in with a pensive expression. Su gave her fellow roommates a once over, and was able to tell immediately that she was likely not the only one to witness Keitaro's bizarre behavior. "I'm not the only one that's seen him like this." Su said. It was not a question, but a statement of fact.

Shinobu spoke up first, surprisingly. "Yeah, I've noticed a couple times that he sounded like he was mumbling to himself when no one else was around."

"I have experienced the same thing on a number of occasions, as well," Motoko noted, pinching a length of her wet hair between her thumb and forefinger with a nervous tic.

"Haruka-san, Kitsune-san, what about you two?" Su asked, noticing their shared glances.

"Before that, are you saying that Keitaro talking to himself is a cause for concern, Su-chan?" Haruka asked, suddenly wishing she had her pack of smokes nearby.

Su shook her head in the negative. "That's not what I said, Haruka-san," she said, correcting the elder Urashima. "I said that he's talking to someone else that is not there, not to himself."

Haruka's eyebrows disappeared into her bangs. "You mean you think he's crazy."

"Psychosis, specifically," Su said, gazing down at her toes, wiggling them to make sure she still had feeling in them. She felt like her whole body was going numb.

"Are you sure you aren't jumping to conclusions, Su-chan? Don't you think you might just be thinking this because of all those psych books you've been reading lately?" Kitsune asked. The even tone in her voice made it perfectly clear that she was taking this accusation seriously. In fact, though she would not be able to admit it to anyone else, she too felt that there might be something wrong. She just did not want to believe it herself.

"I tend to agree with Kitsune-san," Motoko added. "I have not noticed anything strange about Keitaro's person other than these few times we've noticed him talking when no one is around. In fact, I would say as of late he has been the model of serenity."

Su frowned at her friends' lack of belief in her theory, but she had expected this response and had a reply ready for just this moment. "Believe me, guys. I don't want to think he's lost his mind, either."

Haruka sighed heavily, though that was perhaps the only sign of her own disquiet. Her voice smooth and even as it ever was, she asked the Molmolian princess, "So what would you have us do, Su?"

Kaolla was visibly started by Haruka's question, and she struggled to find the words to formulate a suitable response. It was something she had neglected to even remotely consider. By the way Haruka asked the question, Su assumed that Keitaro's aunt thought that there were options, so she replied with the first thing that sprang to her agile mind. "We should help him, right?"

"And how would you suggest we do that?" Haruka asked, monotone.

"We need to tell him we know what's going on and that he needs professional help," Su answered immediately. With the amount of study she had done to this point she at least knew that much.

"And how do you think he would react to the people he trusts the most telling him that he's gone crazy?" Hauka rifled away with another question as soon as Su finished giving her answer to the previous.

Kitsune knew Haruka well enough to know when she was asking obviously leading questions. Instead of allowing Haruka to string the poor foreigner along for an inordinate amount of time, she quickly cut in. "What are you trying to say, Haruka-san?"

Haruka snorted softly at her workmate, disappointed that her fun was ruined. Regardless, she gave her two cents on the situation. "It won't go over well, I know that much for certain. How would any of you react if you had found the tiniest fraction of happiness after such a terrible thing happened to you and the people that you loved and trusted more than anyone else tried to tell you it was all a big fat lie?"

Haruka paused for a moment, allowing the young women a moment of introspection to consider her question. For her own part, she knew exactly what she would think. "I wouldn't believe it for a moment. I wouldn't let anyone or anything take that small piece of happiness away from me."

Motoko stood up, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. It was common practice for her body to move when her mind was in motion. "So, if I am reading what you are saying correctly, even if what Kaolla tells us is true, you believe that we should let Keitaro be?"

To the surprise of all, Haruka nodded her head affirmatively. "Yes, that's exactly what I believe." She glanced about her, taking in their gawking faces. "Look, I understand your concerns, but we don't really have a choice in the matter."

"This is crazy," Kitsune exclaimed, shaking her head vigorously.

"Hinata Sou needs its manager, especially now, when the need is greatest," Haruka said.

"The beach teahouse," Shinobu noted aloud, almost to herself.

"That's right, Shinobu-chan. If we don't have Keitaro's help this year, we won't bring in enough money to keep the place open. Hinata Sou will have to shut its doors, and all of you will have to look for a new place to live."

Keitaro had not been able to participate with the running of the summer beach teahouse for the last two years, given his circumstances. As a consequence, the money set aside year-to-year for the maintenance of the building had been siphoned out without being replaced. The coffers were bone dry, as were some of the boards holding the building up on its foundation. Without the money to replace the rotting supports, there was no way Hinata Sou would pass its yearly inspection.

"Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place," Kitsune said.

"What would you suggest we do then, Haruka-san?" Motoko asked, sitting back down as she spoke.

"Fortunately, it doesn't seem like Keitaro is so affected by his…problem…that he can't perform his day-to-day duties," Su said, rubbing her chin thoughtfully.

"All we can really do is keep an eye on him," Haruka concluded.

"And hope nothing terrible happens?" Shinobu asked, looking terrified as she did.

"Let's hope so."

* * *

Author's Note: Not much to say here. Thanks for reading and go ahead and submit a review/flame/compliment at your leisure. See you guys in the next installment! C


	8. Highs and Lows

My Angel: Highs and Lows

_**4:38 pm August 24, 2001**_

If one were to come upon the man in passing, it would be beyond the pale to assume that the lowly looking cook was the one who owned the deed to that quaint, but wildly popular beach café. But as the experience of life has proven time and again over eons past, one cannot judge another based on appearances alone. For certain, the man was run ragged, sweating so much he could make a pig blush if it had the ability, with more stains on his apron and, needless to say, his clothes, than the average mathematician could count without a calculator, but yes, he did in fact hold deed and title to the property and all its belongings.

By the same token, if one were to have asked him in that particular moment to take over his current duties in exchange for of that slip of paper, he would have handed both it and the stain-crusted apron over to that magnanimous soul without a second thought. With the mid-summer heat just beyond the wall next to him sweltering beyond imagination, within the confines of those kitchen walls he was baking to a crisp faster than the French bread he had just placed in the oven no more than a minute ago.

"It's so damned hot in here," Keitaro Urashima, owner, manager and cook of the beachside café complained for the umpteenth time, tugging at the collar of his shirt repeatedly, trying to air himself out with both of the two seconds he had to rest. Suddenly, a shorthaired girl popped her head through the counter separating the kitchen from the dining area with a cheerful smile on her face. Shaking his head with equal parts anger and fear, he pleaded with the young woman, "Shinobu, if that's another order, I swear I'm going to burn the place to the ground."

To his chagrin, she laughed merrily at his "joke", and added another slip of paper onto the rapidly rising pile of unfinished orders. "Just hang in there, sempai. The rush is just about over," Shinobu replied before picking up a pitcher of ice water from the counter, turning tail and diving headlong back into the crowd. Keitaro let out a whimper, closed his eyes, and craned his head towards the bare ceiling.

"It's your own fault you know. You could have just sucked it up and switched off with Shinobu when you had the chance."

Keitaro let out a heavy sigh and chuckled at the voice only he could hear. He turned to look at Naru, who was sitting cross-legged on the counter, giving the sweaty cook a look he could have sworn she had stolen from his own mother that simply screamed "I told you so." He resented her inability to feel the heat of the room in her ghostly state. "Sure, that might have worked if I were looking for a surefire way of scaring away the clientele," he replied quietly as he continued his work.

Naru giggled and nodded her head at Keitaro's astute reply. The place had been renowned as "the seaside café with all the hot babes dressed in swimsuits working as waitresses" for years now. If Keitaro were to set any portion of hide or hair amongst the teeming masses outside the kitchen, many of their most loyal customers would have turned tail and fled for their lives, taking their much needed cash with them. "I wouldn't worry too much about that anyway. After all, from what I recall, your dishes were always quite good whenever I had them here."

Keitaro laughed out loud and smirked. "Yeah, because people come here for the food, right?" he asked, practically spitting sarcasm from both sides of his mouth. Grabbing a large ladle from a bucket of clean water sitting in the sink, he turned about and began stirring noodles about in an oversized bowl-shaped pan.

Naru clapped halfheartedly, cheering Keitaro on in a mocking manner. "Well, keep up the good work, Keitaro. You'll get to see your precious Reiko-chan soon enough."

As if struck in the back of his head with a heavy, blunt object, Keitaro lurched forward at the sound of his new love interest's name. Dropping his ladle into the pan, he turned around and hugged his shoulders defensively. "What is your problem with her anyway? Can't you see she's a nice girl?"

Naru closed her eyes and shook her head as if she knew something he did not. "She's not the one for you."

"It's not as though I'm looking for Miss Right, Narusegawa," Keitaro replied, turning his back on the ghostly Naru and refocusing on the task at hand. Which turned out to be, as he lifted the latest order from Shinobu and squinted his tired eyes at the girl's squiggly, hastily written handwriting, three more orders of his all-too-famous udon.

Naru's smirk deepened. She probably knew him better than he knew himself. He wasn't the type to hit-it-and-quit-it. But there was no use trying to convince him otherwise. "Well, she's not exactly Miss Right Now material either, Keitaro," Naru replied.

Keitaro's movements began to get rougher as he stirred about the noodles in the frying pan in front of him. "You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were jealous." After a moment of non-reply from the counterpart in the discussion that was rapidly approaching a temperature even that steamy kitchen could not contain, Keitaro paused and turned halfway around to look at Naru, who was pointing silently at the window to the dining area.

"Here's the last of the night's orders," Haruka said, slapping down an order slip onto the counter. "You did good today, Keitaro. Way to hang in there."

It was unlike Haruka to lavish praise onto anyone she felt did not truly deserve it. Well aware of this fact, with his is chest swelling with pride, Keitaro said, "Thanks, Haruka-san."

"Be sure to not burn those noodles," she quipped before turning back around and heading to the table whose patrons were waving her down.

Once Keitaro's aunt was out of earshot, Naru said, "Why would I have anything to be jealous about anyway? Do you think I'm a grudge or something?"

"No, it's just that," Keitaro began, but Naru cut him off with a flick of her hand.

"I'm just telling you that I don't think you should get serious with her," Naru said in a low tone of voice and shrugging her shoulders in a manner that clearly suggested she was done conversing about that particular issue.

She might as well have been speaking to a wall, as Keitaro paid little heed to her words. The landlord was utterly smitten with the enigma that was known to Hinata Sou's tenants simply as Reiko. They did not even know the woman's family name, having only heard of her second-hand from the very little information Keitaro revealed to them about her after they had supposedly met by chance at the local market.

For a few days they denied her existence, believing Keitaro drummed up some false story about a summer fling, likening it to his antics during Valentine's Day. That was until a gorgeous woman walked in to the café and requested to see him the first time. Motoko had been host that evening, and her surprise could not be overstated when the stunning beauty asked for the manager by his given name.

While the stories of Reiko's supposed non-existence were quelled in that instant, they were replaced with rumors of why someone so gorgeous would be caught dead with a loser like Keitaro. Most of the girls' ideas were speculative at best, ranging from the silly to the heinous, Kitsune being responsible for the lion's share of the latter rumors.

Regardless of who they thought this strange new woman was, each of the Hinata Sou residents found that there was something about her that rubbed her the wrong way. None could pinpoint exactly what it was about Reiko that made her feel uncomfortable, nor could any offer her concerns to Keitaro. He was seemingly transported to another world whenever he was in Reiko's presence, and none had a suitably powerful enough communication device to reach him when they were together.

As a group they decided to allow nature to take its course. Keitaro seemed to be happy for perhaps the first time since they had ever met him, and none had the right to stain his smile with nothing more than rumor and gossip.

This night was very much like the last several nights before. When the crowd thinned after closing time, Reiko entered into the café, donned in a long summer dress with a fashionable oversized handbag and brand-name sunglasses. The ensemble reeked of money, and even the most fashion unconscious could determine the woman had a better than average sense of style.

On this night, however, she was cursed with Haruka being tonight's host. Unimpressed by the woman's high-class adornments and obvious beauty, Haruka stood firmly in front of the newcomer to her nephew's life, staring at her with a squint as though she were about to give the tall woman a hefty piece of her mind when Reiko asked to see Keitaro.

Pursing her lips in thinly veiled disgust, Haruka turned away from Reiko's pearly-white, toothy smile and headed towards the back.

As abruptly as possible, Haruka did not even bother to stop in front of the window to the kitchen when she said, "Keitaro, you've got a visitor." Keitaro paused in removing his apron to look at his aunt who was no longer there.

Under normal circumstances, he might have been perturbed at Haruka's curt tone and her immediate departure. Since Reiko appeared in Keitaro's life, however, nothing about Keitaro's demeanor could be considered normal. He threw his dirtied apron onto the prep table without a care in the world that he had not yet finished cleaning the kitchen. And it was not only to his surroundings that he was entirely oblivious. He passed by his co-workers-slash-tenants as though they meant nothing more to him than the flatware on the tables on his way to greet the object of his affection.

"Hi, Reiko-chan," Keitaro gushed as he greeted his girlfriend.

Motoko, who was unfortunate enough to be closest to the couple, had to swallow hard to keep from gagging from Keitaro's artificial, sugary tone of voice. She had never had the most positive opinion of her landlord, but she had been positively appalled of late by the way the whole of his persona seemed to shift whenever that woman reared her disgustingly beautiful face. She began to wonder if there was anything sincere about him at all.

"Are you ready to go?" Reiko asked Keitaro, giving him a warm smile.

"Sure am," Keitaro replied with a nod, looking as exited as a five-year-old about to be treated to ice cream for cleaning up his room.

Without so much as a goodbye to the ladies left behind in the restaurant, the pair left the café while chatting up a storm about how their day went, leaving a pall of silence among those left in the cafe in their wake as their voices faded into the distance.

Haruka looked at the other women, all of whom were staring at the entrance with scowls on their faces. "Alright now," she said, clapping her hands together, "let's get back to work."

"Look at this mess," Kitsune said out loud, though there was no one within earshot, when she walked into the kitchen and saw the disaster area left behind by Keitaro. If someone had passed by and saw the look on the Fox's face at that moment, that person would have given the woman a wide berth, for she looked as though she was about to punch a hole through the drywall.

"I don't like this at all," Shinobu quietly whispered to Su as the two middle-schoolers went from table to table refilling the condiment containers and wiping down the chairs with disinfectant.

"Me neither," Su replied, her voice equally quiet. "This isn't like the Keitaro we know at all."

"I wish there was something we could do," Shinobu said, forlorn.

Su took a breath to speak, and forcefully stopped herself. She wanted to say she wished the same thing as her best friend, but she knew there was nothing that they could do that would help. And even if there were, would it be for Keitaro's benefit, or their own? Deciding it best not to indulge Shinobu with any response, Su decided to move to the next table on her own.

_**8:46 pm August 24, 2001**_

After eating dinner at a nice restaurant in town, Keitaro and Reiko strolled along the street, chatting about how their day went, the beautiful weather recently, and other items of little interest to two young adults amidst a budding relationship. But there was not much else to talk about.

They had very little in common, but that was one of the main reasons Reiko was so attracted to Keitaro in the first place. She had made the rounds in college with the so-called refined men society would consider a match for her, and she found them all to be crass jerks with no sense of how a woman deserved to be treated.

Keitaro was kind, gracious, and thoughtful, everything her previous boyfriends were not. Sure, he was a rung or two below her in terms of appearance, but she would be the first to argue with someone who thought that looks were the most important aspect of a potential lover.

Besides, she found Keitaro to be rather cute in his own way. The look on his face when he looked at her with completely innocent adoration made her feel like he thought she was special. Something else no one else ever made her feel. That had to count for something.

And was Keitaro ever under the spell of enchantment cast upon Cupid's arrow. Not only did a woman who by all accounts was completely out of his league giving him the time of day, she actually wanted to spend time with him and get to know him without having some dastardly ulterior motive. He felt wanted for perhaps the first time in his life.

In another miraculous feat, Keitaro was even able to go about his business with Reiko without making a complete ass out of himself. He had yet to trip over his own two feet and accidentally rip Reiko's skirt or blouse off of her person as he fell. Things were definitely looking up, and there was only one obstacle in the way of his assured happiness.

"I can't believe there's only two more days left of your vacation," Keitaro said forlornly, kicking a pebble down the sidewalk.

Reiko sighed heavily in response. "I know, I've had a lot of fun hanging out with you these last few days."

"I wish there was some way to keep this going."

They lived on opposite sides of the country. That alone made the prospect of a long-lasting relationship grim. These were but small obstacles to the love-struck man.

Keitaro stopped walking, and clutched onto Reiko's hand. "Hey," he began. Reiko, somewhat surprised by Keitaro's sudden physical contact, gave a short start and turned to look at the spectacled man.

"Keitaro, don't," Naru implored, but Keitaro was deaf to anything but his own thoughts. Indeed, she had been with the couple the entire time, but had made herself scarce until that very moment. She knew that the path Keitaro was about to tread led only to loneliness and despair, and she cried out to stop him.

Alas, her words could not reach him.

"You should come back with me," Keitaro said, holding on to Reiko's hand as though he was sure she would turn and flee once he laid his feelings bare. Unable to look the beautiful woman in the eye, he kept his face downcast.

"Come back with you, where? To your hotel?"

Keitaro's head snapped up, seeing the cutest blush on Reiko's face. In the time it took for him to take a breath, his entire face turned deep red. "No, that's not it! That's not at all what I was suggesting!"

Reiko placed her free hand over the one Keitaro used to hang on to her. "Keitaro, what is it you want?"

"Please, come back to Hinata Onsen with me!" Keitaro exclaimed, lowering his head back to the ground. He had surprised himself with his ability to speak the truth for the first time in his life, though he still expected the woman to give him a curt no and pull her hand away from him. Instead, what he heard was a giggle coming from Reiko.

"You can't be serious," Reiko said between chuckles.

Keitaro looked up at her again, unsure of what to say, but the look on the man's face suggested to Reiko that he was quite serious about his request. Shaking her head, she replied, "I'm sorry, I can't do that."

"Why not?" Keitaro asked.

"Why not?" Reiko parroted Keitaro's question back to him. "Because I live in Sapporo, that's why. I have a job there. I have family there. My whole life is there."

It was then Keitaro realized that at some point during the discussion, they had released each other's hand. "You'd have a place to live, and we'd see each other every day. The weather is great, and we have a hot spring you can use whenever you want," Keitaro countered, desperate.

"That all sounds great, Keitaro, but what about all those girls you're living with? I don't think they would appreciate the idea."

"Why do you say that?" Keitaro asked. "The girls love you."

The way Reiko laughed out loud after Keitaro said that put a deep frown on his face. "I'm not sure what world you're living on, but I can assure you that all of those women hate my guts."

"What? No way."

"Look," Reiko said, taking Keitaro's hand into hers. "I've had a lot of fun hanging out with you, and I really like you a lot. I'm just not in a place right now where I'm ready to make a commitment."

"What…what if I were to come visit you?" Keitaro stammered, hearing but not wanting to accept Reiko's honest words.

"We both know that's probably not going to happen."

The young man felt as though he had just been hit in the chest with a sledgehammer. She meant every word of what she said, this he knew. Try as he might to deny it, Reiko was saying goodbye to him. "I don't want this to end."

"Whoever you end up with is going to be a very lucky woman, Keitaro," Reiko said. With her free hand, she reached towards Keitaro's face and brushed her fingers against his cheek. Leaning forward, she gave him a warm buss on the lips. "Take care of yourself, okay?"

He watched Reiko walk away until she was no longer in sight. Once he could no longer see her, he turned and walked away, silent tears falling from behind his glasses. Naru kept pace two steps behind him. No words could assuage him, and thus she remained silent the entirety of the trek back to his hotel room.

_**1:18 am August 25, 2001**_

She watched the rise and fall of the man's chest as he at last found the comfort of sleep, full of regret that there was naught she could say to him the whole evening to bring a smile back to his face.

She felt no pride at being proven correct about Reiko. The pain of guilt stabbed at her heart. This must have been how he felt after the accident occurred; as though nothing could make the world right again. How far from the truth he was! There was so much yet to live for! She knew this, yet she could not tell him. The path of his life was his own to tread. She could only help guide his steps.

Momentarily forgetting herself, she reached out to stroke his tear-stained cheek. She pulled her hand back and whispered to the man sleeping peacefully in front of her, "Everything is going to be all right. I promise."


	9. Turning Point

Hey everyone. Cizzymac here. Wow it's been a while, hasn't it? Sorry about how long its taken for me to get these chapters out to you. To be honest, I had not been feeling this whole writing thing until recently. But I'm back, for now at least. Hope you enjoy this chapter and be sure to let me know what you thought of it by leaving a review after you're done reading. Thanks a lot!

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My Angel: Turning Point

_**5:36 pm November 15, 2001**_

Keitaro was in a dark place, perhaps an even darker place than after the tragedy two years prior. He didn't eat much; only what Shinobu had brought to his door. He hardly slept, either, and when he did, he woke up in fits and starts, then cried himself back to sleep. He had not seen the light of day from outside Hinata Inn in weeks, nor would he see the faces of his worried tenants for days at a time.

Not even Naru could reach him. She tried. Every single day she tried. But he was completely lost. It pained her to see him like this, and she had begun to consider playing her trump card. Being a supernatural being, she had knowledge of events that had occurred in the past that normal people would otherwise forget. She could tell him the truth about a lot of things, but how would he react? He was prone to overreacting, and considering how frail his psyche was at the time, something like that could easily push him over the edge.

No, she decided. She needed to be patient with that information. He had come much further than she expected, and it was just a matter of time before…

"Narusegawa?" Keitaro asked, rolling over in his tatami.

"Yes, Keitaro?" Naru asked excitedly. He had not called her for a question in a week, so she could hardly contain herself. This was her chance.

"What time is it?"

Naru looked at the clock and was about to speak, but she stopped. She glanced back at Keitaro and thought of a better idea then mindlessly answering him. "Why don't you look for yourself?"

That got Keitaro's attention, as he stirred in his bed. "What?"

"You heard me, Keitaro. If you want to know what time it is, get up and look for yourself."

A pained expression crossed Keitaro's face. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because I can't stand to see you like this for another minute. So you are going to get up off your own ass and see what time it is yourself. Period."

She had expected an angry response from the man lying in the bed, but the next words out of his mouth caught the spectral Naru by surprise. "I know."

"Huh?"

"I know I need to get it together. I just don't know what to do. I don't know how I can face everyone."

Naru smiled softly. "You don't need to know. You just need to do it. You can worry about the rest later."

"Somehow, I know you're right. You're always right. I just wish it was that easy."

"I never said it was easy. It's going to be hard as hell. But you know you need to do it."

Keitaro turned over to lie on his back and stared at the ceiling. "I know."

An hour later, a fully dressed, and somewhat cleaned up Keitaro descended the stairs to the lobby of Hinata Inn.

"Well, look at what the cat dragged in," Kitsune said, noticing the young man come down first.

Several heads turned to look at him, some with more surprised expressions than others.

"Hi," Keitaro squeaked out, waving a feeble hand.

"Finally came down to get a breath of fresh air, did you?" Haruka asked him.

"Yeah, in a manner of speaking."

"Good. See, Shinobu, now you don't have to go to the market all by yourself," Haruka said.

"Huh?" Keitaro and Shinobu asked in unison.

"You aren't going to let poor little Shinobu go out all alone at night, are you, Mr. Manager?" Kitsune asked, grinning impishly.

"I…suppose not," Keitaro replied. "I was going to go out anyway, but I guess this gives me something better to do."

Shinobu seemed to be relieved, but she still protested, "If you don't want to, Urashima-sempai, you don't need to. I can go by myself."

Keitaro opened his mouth to answer, but Haruka beat him to the punch. "I don't think so, Shinobu-chan. He's going with you whether he likes it or not." To emphasize her point, Haruka shot a glare at Keitaro that could have frozen a pot of boiling water on the spot.

"I was going to say that I would be more than happy to go with you, Shinobu-chan," Keitaro said.

"O-okay then! I'll go get ready!"

Shinobu shuffled quickly up the stairs, returning to her room to change into some warmer clothing.

"That-a boy, Keitaro," Kitsune said, giving the young man a playful slap on the arm. "It's good to see you, you know. We've missed you around here."

"Yeah, sorry, Kitsune-san. Haruka-san."

"We understand, kiddo," Haruka replied, waving off Keitaro's apologetic bow. "Just don't be afraid to ask for help if you need any, alright?"

"Okay, I'll do that."

Dashing down the stairs as though her pants were on fire, Shinobu jump down the last four steps on the staircase, landing firmly on the hardwood floor with both feet. "I'm ready!"

"So fast!" Kitsune exclaimed.

"Someone's certainly excited to spend some time with you, Keitaro," Haruka quipped, suppressing the smile creeping onto her face.

"Oh hush, Haruka-san!" Shinobu jeered, sticking out her tongue at the elder Urashima.

Keitaro laughed at the demure girl's ability to return his aunt's fire. What had gotten into that girl? Did she even realize who she was dealing with? His aunt could squash the little girl like a bug!

However, Haruka laughed right back at the girl. It was a merry laugh. One like he had not heard come from his aunt in a very long time. "Alright, you two, be careful out there."

"We will!" Shinobu twirled about on her heels and looked at Keitaro with a brilliant smile he had never seen her display before. "Shall we go?"

Keitaro's heart skipped a beat in his chest. Who was this girl standing in front of him, and what did she do with the bashful, timid Shinobu he had remembered? How much more had he missed while he locked himself away with his misery?

Shinobu's smile melted into a look of concern as she watched Keitaro's eyes turn red. "What's the matter, Urashima-sempai?"

He had no explanation for his tears. The only thing he could do was apologize. "I'm so sorry, Shinobu-chan." He hung his head in shame; he could not bear to look at her. But then, something even more unexpected happened.

Shinobu stepped closer and put threw her arms around Keitaro, snuggling her cheek into his chest. Keitaro gasped at the sudden display of affection and froze, unsure of what to do. "It's okay, Urashima-sempai. I forgive you."

"Shinobu…chan," Keitaro cried, gnashing his teeth.

Forgiveness. Yes, that is what his heart truly desired. Though he recalled Naru offering her forgiveness to him several months prior, but hearing it from Shinobu was a different feeling altogether. She was the person he least expected to hear those words from. He thought she hated him. He couldn't blame her for it if she did. He was the worst person in the world.

But she held on to him, telling him that despite all of the terrible things that happened, that she would give him another chance. That he deserved another chance. Yesterday was in the past, and from here, the slate would be wiped clean. There was no greater gift the young man could have asked for.

Fresh tears fell from his eyes into the girl's hair as he wrapped his own arms around Shinobu and buried his face into her hair. "Thank you so much," he repeated over and over between sobs.

After a minute, Keitaro saw Kitsune stand up, and his heart melted when he saw tears streaming down her face as well. He had only seen her cry once before, after Naru's accident. "Alright kiddo, step aside," she said. "It's my turn."

Shinobu released Keitaro and wiped away her tears on the sleeve of her jacket. Keitaro opened his arms to receive Kitsune and nearly had the wind knocked out of him by how hard she threw herself at him. She started crying even harder than he did, wailing loudly into his chest. The tables had turned, and he was the one consoling her, running a hand through her hair and whispering that everything was going to be all right.

"You need to promise you won't ever leave us again."

"I promise, Kitsune-san. Never again."

From behind, Naru watched them with a huge smile on her face.

* * *

_**7:20 pm November 15, 2001**_

After washing their faces and saying their goodbyes, Keitaro and Shinobu left the inn and walked into town. With the both of them being emotionally drained, their trek was mostly in silence. Occasionally, one would glance at the other and share a quick smile or a laugh.

"You two are almost like a couple," Naru quipped from a few paces behind the pair.

Keitaro opened his mouth to utter a witty reply but remembered his place, so what came out instead was a hoarse cough.

"Are you okay?" Shinobu asked him.

"Yeah," Keitaro replied, clutching at his throat. "Wrong pipe."

A giggling sound echoed in Keitaro's ears, and he swore before the night was through he was going to exact revenge on the ghost haunting him…somehow. And as he pondered over exactly how he was going to get back at someone who was already dead…

Turning a blind corner without paying attention, Keitaro bumped into something, or was it someone? His nose smarted from where he had hit…whatever it was, and his eyes watered from the pain.

"Ow, that hurts," he heard a distinctly female voice say.

Crap, I've done it again, Keitaro thought, blinking away the tears in his eyes to see the blurred form of a young woman that had fallen onto her buttocks. She was rubbing her forehead, and cooing in pain.

"Are you okay?" Shinobu asked, rushing to the woman's side to help her to her feet.

"Yeah, I think so," the woman replied. "I'm really sorry, mister. I can be such a klutz sometimes." To emphasize her point, she balled her free hand into a fist and knocked it against the side of her head.

"No, I'm the one that should apologize," Keitaro retorted with a nasal voice, as he still had his nose pinched shut with his hand. "I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

"No, really, it was my fault," the woman countered.

"My sincerest apologies," the both of them said at the exact same time. After a short pause, they both laughed nervously with one another.

"Anyway, I need to go now. Thanks for helping me up, sweetheart," the woman addressed Shinobu.

Shinobu blushed heavily at the woman's term of endearment. "It was nothing at all."

After waving goodbye, the young woman left, going in the direction that Keitaro and Shinobu came from.

Shinobu watched the woman walk away until she was out of sight, and Keitaro removed his glasses to rub his eyes. Once he placed them back over his nose, he could finally see clearly again.

"She was really pretty," Shinobu noted aloud.

"Oh?" Keitaro asked, as he was unable to get a good look at her with all the commotion.

"Uh huh."

Keitaro lamented his misfortune of not getting to see her fact very well or at least get the lady's name, but remembering he currently had a female companion, he decided to let it go. "Well, shall we?"

"Sure!"

Naru stood several paces behind, slack-jawed at what she had just witnessed. She would not have believed it if she had not seen it with her own two eyes. Fate undoubtedly had a hand in this. The moment she laid eyes on that woman's face, Naru knew in that moment that everything was going to change.

* * *

_**8:35 pm November 15, 2001**_

Keitaro's shoulders slumped under the weight of the multitude of bags he carried in both hands. Man, I've gotten so out of shape, he whined to himself as he climbed the stairs leading back to the inn.

"Are you sure I can't carry any of those bags, Urashima-sempai?" Shinobu asked him for the fifth time since they had left the market.

Though he would have loved nothing more than to be relieved of his load, the last sliver of his pride as a man held firm to the ledge by its fingernails. "No, I've got it, Shinobu," Keitaro panted, painting his best fake smile to his face.

They were about two flights of stairs away when Shinobu said she would get the door for him, and she skipped up the stairs with the grace of a gazelle. "Ah, the joys of youth," Keitaro joked. "You still back there, Narusegawa?"

After a moment's pause, Naru spoke. "Listen, Keitaro. There's something you need to know."

"The only thing I need right now is to get back home so I can drop this stuff before my arms fall off," Keitaro said, grunting with each step he took.

"No, Keitaro. I'm serious. I need to tell you something," Naru insisted.

It wasn't usual for Naru to act this way, and that caught the young man's attention. He stopped and turned to face her. "What is it?"

Before Naru could respond, Shinobu reappeared at the crest of the stairs. "Urashima-sempai!" she cried out.

Keitaro, startled enough to nearly drop everything he was carrying, turned back around. "What's up?"

Shinobu had a huge grin on her face as she said, "You aren't going to believe this. Come on!" And she ran off again to the dorm.

"Sorry, Narusegawa. Can it wait a little while? I really need to put this stuff down." Keitaro's question was purely rhetorical, as he continued up the stairs without waiting for a reply.

As he reached the top of the stairs, Keitaro could tell something was definitely afoot. The door to the inn was wide open, despite the fact it was relatively chilly that evening. But more than that, it seemed the entire household was in the lobby, all standing together in the same spot just beyond the opened door.

Keitaro approached, and Shinobu ran towards him again. "It's really cold out, Shinobu-chan. You've got to keep the door closed," he reproached her.

He might as well have been talking to a wall, because Shinobu ignored him completely, pointed towards the group and exclaimed, "Look who it is!"

Keitaro looked where Shinobu was pointing and immediately noticed someone there that he did not immediately recognize. Dressed in a sleek winter jacket and dark jeans, she had long, flowing dark hair that reached to the small of her back, and the brightest brown eyes he had ever seen. If he was only allowed one word to describe how she looked, he would have said…

"Beautiful," he whispered.

Shinobu stood on her tiptoes and whispered into Keitaro's ear, "That's the girl we bumped into in town."

"You're kidding," Keitaro exclaimed.

Shinobu, wearing a seemingly perennial grin, shook her head.

"What's she doing here?" Keitaro asked.

"I don't know, _kanrinin-san_, why don't you go find out?" Shinobu replied, giving Keitaro a sharp nudge with her elbow.

Keitaro, suddenly feeling quite nervous, strode forward slowly. Haruka noticed him walk through the door, and she said, "Ah, here he is now. Why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself."

The woman turned around to face Keitaro and gasped once she saw him. "You!"

Standing there like an idiot with his hands still full of groceries from the market, Keitaro sheepishly greeted the newcomer. "Uh, hello."

"Wait, you two know each other?" Kitsune asked, pointing a finger between them.

"Yeah, well, I mean no," Keitaro stammered. Now that he could see her up close, he couldn't help but notice her features were even more striking than he thought.

"We bumped into each other while I was on my way here," the woman explained, still looking at Keitaro with a curious expression.

"Well, isn't that an interesting coincidence," Haruka said, smiling broadly.

No, it wasn't coincidence at all, Naru thought. Their meeting was something pre-determined by divine intervention. She was certain of it. There was no other way to explain it.

"We've got a new housemate!" Su cheered.

"Huh?" Keitaro asked, flummoxed.

The beautiful woman gave Keitaro a beaming smile. "I'm going to be living here from now on. My name is Mutsumi Otohime. It's a pleasure to meet you!"


	10. Sight Unseen

A/N: You know the drill, the characters aren't mine, but I'll take the credit for the story. Well, my friend will, anyway...

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My Angel: Sight Unseen

_**8:45 am December 20, 2001**_

Yawning heavily, and audibly, Keitaro stepped out of his room and padded towards the communal sink with a small bucket containing a toothbrush and toothpaste, a bar of soap, and a hand towel. The sound of a feminine giggle caused him to nearly bite his tongue as he snapped his mouth shut in embarrassment. His cheeks flushed red when he realized his newest and undoubtedly most beautiful tenant, Mutsumi Otohime, had caught a glimpse of him at his most vulnerable. At a glance, Keitaro noticed that she was still in her evening wear: a peach-striped button down shirt and silk shorts that ended well above her knees. She was holding a small pink container with items similar to his.

Since Keitaro boarded the young woman in the room next to him in room 203, opposite Kitsune's room (205), he might have known that he would occasionally meet with her in the early morning, but the thought slipped his mind in his weariness, and he was caught off guard.

"Good morning, Keitaro-san," Mutsumi said, giving the manager her usual beaming smile.

Just the way she said his name made him jelly-legged, and coupled with her smile, he had to lock his knees to keep from stumbling over. "G-good morning…Mutsumi-san."

"Did you sleep well?"

"Well, er…" Keitaro's voice trailed off as his eyes wandered from the young woman's eyes down towards her womanly features. He had never seen her in her pajamas before, and seeing her in such attire caused the young man to act like, well, a young man.

"Yes, I did, thank you very much," barked the voice of the drill sergeant standing behind Keitaro.

Keitaro stiffened and raised his eyes up to look at Mutsumi's face. "Yes, I did, thank you very much," he parroted his handler, his voice as dry and shrill as a young private getting dressed down in boot camp.

Mutsumi's smile vanished and she asked with concern at Keitaro's sudden change in demeanor, "Are you okay?"

"Oh, yes, I'm just fine!" Keitaro quickly exclaimed.

"Alright then, I'll see you downstairs," Mutsumi replied.

"Downstairs?" Keitaro asked stupidly.

"For breakfast?"

"Oh, yes, of course," Keitaro replied with a dry laugh. "I'll see you then."

"Okay, bye," Mutsumi smiled and waved at the manager, then turned about and went back to her room.

Once he heard the sliding door to room 203 tap shut, Keitaro exhaled heavily and leaned against the sink with both hands.

"What the hell was that?" Naru asked him, her voice as angry as Keitaro had heard it since she became his spiritual advisor.

Shaking his head, Keitaro replied, "I'm sorry, I just couldn't help it."

"Couldn't help what, ogling her like a perverted old man?"

Keitaro winced at her words. "Was it really that bad?"

"I would think that after seeing Kitsune dressed like that a hundred times, you would be immune to that kind of reaction."

"That's different," Keitaro grumbled.

"Different how?" Naru continued to grill him.

"Because I don't…" he almost said it, but then caught himself. Letting out a heavy breath, he said, "Nevermind."

Naru shook her head and waved her index finger in the air in front of her. "No, you aren't getting off that easily. I want to know how it's different."

"It just is, alright?" Keitaro pleaded with Naru to drop the subject, but the honey-haired spirit was not having it.

"If you can't tell me the truth, how do you expect to be able to ask her out for Christmas Eve, huh? Are you going to sit back and be a coward for the rest of your life? Why can't you just tell me you like her?"

Something within Keitaro snapped, and he whirled around to face Naru, giving her a sharp glare as he spoke. "Alright, I'll admit it. It's different because I don't feel the same way about Kitsune as I do with Mutsumi. And, you know what else? Maybe I am a coward, but I don't care. I learned my lesson with Reiko. I'd rather live with the dream of what might be possible over the reality of being rejected again. I'm done."

"Who are you talking to?"

A sudden voice from behind made Keitaro nearly choke on his own heart as it leapt from his chest. He cursed himself for losing his temper and forgetting himself and his surroundings as he slowly turned to face the owner of the voice, a very wide-awake Kitsune, clad in her pajamas, holding a cup with a toothbrush, toothpaste, a small bottle of face wash, and a rolled up washcloth.

"Oh, good morning Kitsune-san. You scared the living daylights out of me!"

Keitaro laughed out loud and scratched the back of his head, trying to play off what Kitsune might have heard as a joke. He became worried when the serious look on her face, something he had never seen from her at such an early hour, did not crack. And the next words she spoke might as well have given him a heart attack.

"It's Naru, isn't it? You're talking to Naru."

_**10:36 am December 20, 2001**_

Keitaro slowly approached Kitsune, who was sitting in one of the chairs on the second floor window facing the town. She had asked him to meet her there after the rest of the household had gone about their business so they could talk in private. The look on her face at the time told Keitaro that he had better show up, or the consequences would be disastrous.

"You can't tell her about me, Keitaro. There's no telling what might happen if you do," Naru reminded him as they approached the fox, who was staring out the window, nursing a cup of coffee.

Keitaro nodded his head, both to reassure Naru that he had heard her, and to steel his own nerves. He had a vague idea of how he could explain away what Kitsune had heard in the hallway two hours ago, and he hoped for everyone's sake that she would buy it.

"Kitsune?" Keitaro called out to her.

Kitsune started at the sound of her name, and she motioned towards the chair next to her. "Please sit."

As Keitaro sat down, he could tell Kitsune was just as nervous as he was, taking a sip from her cup before turning it in her hands several times and placing it down on the coffee table.

"I'm not really sure where to start," Kitsune said, then coughed into her hand to clear her throat.

"Kitsune, what you heard today is," Keitaro began…

"Please don't lie to me, Keitaro," Kitsune cut him off. "We all know what's been going on with you lately. We all understand you've been under a lot of stress. We also know you've been talking to someone that isn't there. Don't worry. The new girl hasn't caught wind of this yet."

Kitsune looked towards Keitaro, fully expecting him to deny what she said, but when he remained silent, she continued.

"Kaolla thinks you should talk to a professional about this problem you're having. Shinobu thinks so, too. I thought you were going to be okay, that this was just something you were doing to cope with everything's that's happened."

"I'm not crazy, Kitsune-san," Keitaro said.

As though she did not hear what Keitaro said, Kitsune continued, "But then I heard you this morning. I never realized it before, but the way you talked this morning, it was like you were talking to her."

Keitaro was rapidly losing control of the situation. The more Kitsune talked, the more dangerous this was becoming.

"It's Naru you're talking to. You sounded just like you did when she was still alive. The way you two argued back and forth, you don't sound like that with anyone else. But she's gone, Keitaro."

"No, she's not," Keitaro replied.

"Keitaro, don't," Naru protested.

Kitsune left her chair and knelt in front of Keitaro and grabbed him by the shoulders. By the wild-eyed look in her eyes, Keitaro could tell she was rapidly losing control of her emotions. "She's dead, Keitaro! Dead! You've got to let her go!"

Keitaro smiled whimsically and said, "If only it were that simple."

"What do you mean?" Kitsune asked, still grasping Keitaro's shoulders with her hands.

"You're right, Kitsune-san," Keitaro admitted.

"Keitaro, what are you doing?" Naru asked, her voice rising in panic.

Keitaro looked towards Naru in the presence of another person for the first time and told her, "We can't keep hiding this any more. Everyone thinks I'm losing my mind. What if they decide to have me taken away from here and put in a psychiatric ward, somewhere? Would that be a better alternative to telling the truth?"

Naru tried to rebut, but she could not find a suitable counterargument. Turning his attention back to Kitsune after he felt her let go of his arms, he could see the fear in her eyes. "It's all right, Kitsune."

Kitsune shook her head and backed away from Keitaro. "No. No, she isn't. She's not there. She's gone!" She did not want to believe it. She thought it was just something he was going through to cope with the pain. She thought he would eventually break through and come back to reality. But he had fallen completely into his fantasy world. He had spoken to this imaginary person right in front of her.

"You need help, Keitaro. You need someone real to talk to," Kitsune said, trying to keep herself from panicking.

Keitaro chuckled in response. "Oh, believe me; she is very, very real."

"She's gone, Keitaro. We buried her in the ground, don't you remember?"

"Listen, Kitsune, I don't know why I'm the only one that can see her, but that's just the way it is. What can I do to prove to you that I'm not crazy?"

Kitsune stood up and dusted off her knees. "I don't need any convincing, Keitaro. I know what I can and cannot see and hear. Look, I don't think I should talk to you about this anymore. Just try to think about who's still here and what this is doing to us, all right?"

This is bad, Keitaro thought, as he watched Kitsune walk away. "What do I do?" he asked Naru, who stood still and stoic as a statue.

"Tell her to stop," Naru said.

"Wait, Kitsune-san. Narusegawa wants me to tell you something," Keitaro blurted immediately.

Kitsune stopped, but did not turn to face him. Keitaro quickly relayed the information Naru told him. "That night, when we celebrated Narusegawa's coming of age party; you told us a story about her in middle school. About the day she forgot her glasses."

"What about it?" Kitsune asked. She remained in place and did not turn around.

"There was something else that happened that day. Something you didn't tell all of us. Something only the two of you knew about."

Kitsune turned around, a puzzled look on her face. Keitaro took this as a hint that something did happen after all. "Go ahead," Kitsune said after Keitaro paused for length of time.

"You didn't say it because you didn't want to hurt my feelings," Keitaro continued. "The truth is the most embarrassing part of the story wasn't just all the people in the hallway that saw her in just her underwear. Someone else was there, too. The last person in the world she wanted to see her like that."

"The man that I was in love with…he was there," Naru stated softly.

Keitaro's face puzzled over as he repeated Naru's words. "His name was Seta."

Kitsune's face fell upon the mention of that name. It was a name Keitaro had never heard before, so it was impossible for him to know who Seta was. Moreover, Keitaro continued to give intimate details about him that Naru had shared with her and her alone. There was not another soul in the world that knew about her and Naru's relationship with that man.

Keitaro felt a sting in his chest as he told Kitsune about the man Naru had been in love with until the moment of her death. He felt as though he was not telling Kitsune about this special relationship she had with this man. After all, Kitsune already knew all about it. Naru and Kitsune were the very best of friends that never hid anything from one another. Of course she would know about Naru's secret lover. No, Naru was telling him directly.

However, as he continued to relay the story about Seta, Keitaro felt no anger, or pain, or bitterness upon learning about Naru's first love. It was only natural, after all. Why shouldn't she fall for with a handsome, intelligent man that was helping her to reach her life's greatest goal? If anything, Keitaro felt relieved. He had learned something about her that he had never known before. In his mind, Naru was an idyllic figure that no man could reach. But even she had been smitten with someone when she was alive. She was just a normal, healthy teenage girl infatuated with an older man. And by the time Keitaro finished telling the story behind Naru's unrequited first love, he was smiling.

In contrary to Keitaro's smile, Kitsune was looking back at him with a whirlwind of emotions on her face: anger, fear, sorrow, trepidation. Her eyes were wide, misty with newly formed tears, and her lower lip quivered. Her breath was heavy and ragged, and she was on the verge of hyperventilation.

"Are you okay?" Keitaro asked Kitsune, his voice rising in concern as he took a step towards her.

Kitsune shook her head in response as she began to sob. "No, I'm not okay."

"What are you doing, you idiot?" Naru asked angrily. Keitaro turned to Naru, nonplussed. She furrowed her brow and gestured with her two open hands towards Kitsune.

"Oh," Keitaro exclaimed, the proverbial lightbulb above his head springing to life. He rushed over to Kitsune's side, and she clutched on his shirt, crying heavily into his chest. They stood there for several minutes as Kitsune emptied the last of her tears onto Keitaro's shirt and he ran his hand over her head. After she had calmed down, she pulled back, sniffed loudly and asked, "She's really here, isn't she?"

With a smile, Keitaro simply replied, "Yeah."


End file.
